A U.S. interagency group launched a new website on Tuesday to provide details about the oversight work being done to ensure U.S. aid to Ukraine is not being misappropriated or misused.
This new website comes more than two years on in the Russia-Ukraine war, as approximately $113.4 billion in U.S. taxpayer funds have been appropriated to various projects intended to assist the Ukrainian side in the conflict.
The responsibility for providing oversight on U.S. aid to Ukraine is currently dispersed across a group of federal agencies, collectively referred to as the Ukraine Oversight Interagency Working Group. This interagency group includes the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Defense (DOD OIG), counterparts in the U.S. State Department and its component, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The new website proposes simplifying aid efforts into three categories: Security Assistance and Coordination, Non-security Assistance and Coordination, and Management and Operations.
The website provides a breakdown of the $113.4 billion already spent to assist Ukraine since the full-scale Russian invasion of the country in February 2022.
The website also lists confidential hotlines for the DOD OIG, State Department OIG, the Inspector General USAID, and GAO to enable reporting for allegations of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement related to U.S. assistance to Ukraine.
Website Launches Amid Aid Impasse
The website comes at a point in time where previous aid tranches for Ukraine have been exhausted, and Congress has been deliberating for months over a new $95 billion supplemental spending bill that would include an additional $61 billion for various programs meant to assist Ukraine. The supplemental spending bill passed in the U.S. Senate last month but has seen little forward progress in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives since then.
For months, numerous Congressional Republicans have vowed to oppose additional aid packages for Ukraine without greater accountability for what has already been spent, a more detailed assessment of Ukraine’s progress in the war, and an understanding of the U.S. exit strategy in the conflict.
“The American people deserve to know what their money has gone to. How is the counteroffensive going? Are the Ukrainians any closer to victory than they were 6 months ago? What is our strategy, and what is the president’s exit plan? What does the administration define as victory in Ukraine? What assistance has the United States provided Ukraine under Title 10?” a group of 28 Congressional Republicans wrote in a Sept. 21 letter to the Biden administration.
“It would be an absurd abdication of congressional responsibility to grant this request without knowing the answers to these questions,” the Republican letter continued. “For these reasons—and certainly until we receive answers to the questions above and others forthcoming—we oppose the additional expenditure for war in Ukraine included in your request.”
In a Tuesday press statement, the DOD OIG said this new Ukraine aid website is meant to provide a “convenient, single resource” for both the American public and Congress. The website links to dozens of Ukraine aid oversight projects already completed by the DOD OIG, State OIG, USAID OIG, and GAO.
It remains to be seen whether this website will help to alleviate concerns raised about transparency and accountability regarding U.S. aid to Ukraine.
Transparency and accountability aren’t the only obstacles to additional rounds of Ukraine-related aid.
Some Republicans have outright vowed to oppose new rounds of aid for Ukraine and have instead pressed for peace negotiations to move ahead.
Still, more Republicans had united for a time around the idea of pairing another tranche of aid for Ukraine if it came with significant border security policy concessions from President Joe Biden’s administration. An earlier $118 billion version of the supplemental spending bill had included some border security and immigration measures, though many Republicans found the concessions inadequate, and the deal collapsed.
