An “accounting error” resulted in the Department of Defense sending an extra $6.2 billion in aid to Ukraine, a Pentagon spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The overestimation of the value of the aid sent to Ukraine was originally reported by the Pentagon in May to be $3 billion.
Following a more thorough investigation, Pentagon officials revised the total value of the accounting error was $6.2 billion — $3.6 billion for fiscal year 2023 and $2.6 billion for fiscal year 2022.
The accounting error was due to using the replacement cost rather than the net value of equipment sent to Ukraine, thus overestimating the value of the equipment, the Pentagon’s Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh explained in a press briefing Tuesday.
Singh said that the Department of Defense (DoD) has reissued guidance on the valuation of equipment to ensure that they use “the most accurate of accounting methods.”
“These valuation errors in no way limit or restricted the size of any of our PDAs [Presidential Drawdown Authority funds], or impacted the provision of support to Ukraine,” Singh said.
“While the DoD retains the authority to utilize the recaptured PDA, this has no bearing on appropriated [Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative] or Ukraine PDA replenishment funding approved by Congress,” she said.
