CNN
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The Biden administration made an accounting error in assessing the value of the military support the U.S. has given Ukraine so far, freeing up roughly $3 billion more in aid, an amount that may mitigate the need for Congress to pass a package of additional assistance before. at the end of the fiscal year in September, multiple congressional and administration officials told CNN.
The mistake, which lawmakers and congressional staffers were told Thursday, sparked frustration from Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees. They believe the mistake reduced the amount of American support that went to Ukraine before the counteroffensive.
“The revelation of a three billion dollar accounting error discovered two months ago and shared with Congress only today is extremely troubling, to say the least. These funds could have been used for additional supplies and weapons for the upcoming counteroffensive , rather than rationing funds to last the remainder of the fiscal year,” House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul and House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers wrote in a statement Thursday .
Before this new information came to light, the Pentagon had said that just over $2.3 billion remained available for the Presidential Authority of Ukraine. Now, because of this revelation, about $5.3 billion is still available, far more than even the largest single package provided to Ukraine.
The briefing on the Hill comes after the White House told CNN it currently has no plans to ask Congress for new funding to Ukraine before the end of the fiscal year in late September, confronting administration officials with some lawmakers and congressional staff who are worried the funds could run out by midsummer.
But now that more funding is available, congressional sources said they are less concerned about the immediate need for a new funding package for Ukraine. They believe the new funding is likely to carry US support to Ukraine through the end of the summer.
The accounting error occurred because when the US transferred weaponry to Ukraine, it counted the value of the replacement weapon instead of the value of the actual weapon, defense officials explained. This increased the cost of each package, because new weaponry costs more than old weaponry, and led to the false assumption that more funding had been used.
McCaul and Rogers said the administration should “make up for this precious lost time by using these funds to provide Ukraine with the DPICMS and ATACMS they need to fuel the counteroffensive and win the war.”
The U.S. has resisted providing Ukraine with the military’s tactical missile systems, which can reach targets more than 185 miles away, both because the missiles are in limited supply and because the U.S. is concerned that Russia could see too provocative. The US has also resisted sending cluster munitions to Ukraine, known as dual-purpose enhanced conventional munitions, or DPICM, because many countries fervently oppose them and the US believes that the use of cluster munitions has too many disadvantages because of the high risk. they put the civilians
