The US is struggling to keep track of billions of dollars it has sent to Kiev since February 2022, the effectiveness of which may be reduced by government and private corruption in Ukraine. This was the most recent finding of the US State Department\u2019s Office of the Inspector General.
The redacted version of the State Department OIG report, published this week, notes that \u201ccorruption in the Ukrainian government and private sector poses risks to the effectiveness of US foreign assistance over the longer run.\u201d
Concerns about corruption are well-documented, the OIG adds, and the State Department \u201cintends to develop a plan to address anti-corruption in connection with assistance to Ukraine, including for reconstruction.\u201d
According to the report, the US Congress has appropriated more than $113.4 billion for Ukraine since the hostilities with Russia escalated last year. The State Department has been responsible for about $31 billion, of which $22.9 billion was marked \u201cdirect budget support\u201d for the Ukrainian government. The OIG review focused on just these funds, administered by the Office of the Coordinator of US Assistance to Europe and Eurasia (EUR\/ACE), and not the tens of billions in military aid that went through the Pentagon.
Among the report\u2019s revelations was that \u201call foreign assistance\u201d to Ukraine is ultimately channeled through the Assistance Coordinator (ACOORD) team at the US embassy in Kiev, which apparently consists of just two people \u2013 described as a \u201cSenior Foreign Service officer and a locally employed staff member.\u201d
The embassy\u2019s Integrated Country Strategy (ICS) was last updated in 2018. To make up for it, the EUR\/ACE has drafted several planning documents approved by the National Security Council. However, each of them \u201clacked some or all\u201d of the elements required by internal rules, including goals and objectives \u201cwith clear desired results and associated performance indicators.\u201d
The documents also \u201cdid not set forth an overarching strategy for Ukraine or assign responsibility for achieving goals.\u201d
The limited number of embassy staff and Ukraine\u2019s travel restrictions have created \u201csignificant challenges in monitoring programs,\u201d the OIG said. Most of the monitoring is done remotely, using online protocols adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic. One office has created a smartphone app to do photo verification of equipment deliveries. Another contracted with an American NGO to \u201cmonitor and verify demining operations.\u201d
The OIG inspectors \u201clargely conducted the review remotely\u201d between mid-October 2022 and early March 2023.
President Joe Biden\u2019s administration has repeatedly pledged to support the government in Kiev \u201cfor as long as it takes\u201d to win the \u201cwar\u201d against Russia. Earlier this month, the White House opposed a proposal by congressional Republicans to set up an independent special inspector for Ukraine aid, arguing that the Pentagon inspector general and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) were already working to \u201censure accountability.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n