To date, the United States, the European Union, and a handful of other countries have sent $100 billion in aid to Ukraine, including weapons and "other" aid like piles of cash. According to a "sensitive but unclassified" cable from the United States embassy in Kyiv, reported on by Politico, there's been some difficulty tracking where all this aid is going.
U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink, who sent the cable, says that chaos on the ground and a history of corruption makes wars like the one in Ukraine very expensive and difficult to track.
In April, Jonas Ohman, the president of an organization moving aid into Ukraine, said that only 30-40% of aid was making it to its intended destination.
African nations have complained that weapons the West has sent to Ukraine to aid in its fight against Russia have started to pour into their nations via Ukrainian arms dealers.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari warned,
Regrettably, the situation in the Sahel and the raging war in Ukraine serve as major sources of weapons and fighters that bolster the ranks of the terrorists in the region.
He is referring to the Boko Haram terrorists eradicating Christians across the region for those keeping track.
Stinger and Javelin missiles sent to Kiev are being sold on the black market in Albania and Kosovo.
The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation said intelligence suggests that some of the weapons sent to Ukraine had made their way to Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands and were being used by motorcycle gangs.
Ukrainian officials are calling all of these claims "Russian disinformation." Calling the people sending you billions in aid liars is an odd move, but okay.
As far as the United States goes, there are calls from Republicans for additional Ukrainian oversight on aid, but Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, has warned that alarmism about the possible misuse of Ukraine aid is feeding Moscow's propaganda.
"Ukraine is spending the money really well; that's why they're winning," he added. "Yes, we need oversight, but we don't need that as an excuse to not fund what we're doing."
Apparently, what we're doing is arming the most dangerous terrorist and criminal groups across the globe while making corrupt Ukrainians rich.
