President Volodymyr Zelensky's recent accusation that only 10% of the military aid promised to the US this year actually went to Ukrainian forces is highly likely accurate.
Kyiv Post claims this with reference to a review of figures published by the Pentagon.
Speaking at a press conference in Reykjavík on Wednesday, Zelenskyi said one of Ukraine's many problems is that arms aid promised by allies is arriving too late or not at all.
In the case of the US, a whopping 90% of the military aid approved by Congress for the 2024 fiscal year has not yet reached the battlefield, the Ukrainian president said.
"This is a problem. What to do, for example, when Russia seizes more Ukrainian territories in the East? You [the leadership of Ukraine] are doing your job. You calculate your reserves. You count on special forces. You count on some [foreign supply of] equipment. And then if you get ten percent of that package [that] has already been voted on… You know, it's not funny… Congress has voted. It's not a question of money, it's a matter of bureaucracy and logistics," Zelensky said.
According to the Kyiv Post and official data published by the Pentagon, Zelensky's statement about the supply of 10% is probably a fairly accurate estimate of the actual number of American weapons that got into the hands of the Ukrainian military this year.
At the end of December, the US cut off all military aid to Kyiv due to controversy in Congress. A five-month pause in arms supplies to Ukraine ended on April 24, when US President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill approving $60.84 billion in military aid to Ukraine, which must be provided by the end of the 2024 fiscal year.
Since then, the Pentagon's aid payments have been consistently one or two aid packages a month -- each almost always valued at well under a billion dollars, far less than what would be needed to buy all the weapons and aid Congress has approved for Ukraine for a year.
By December 2023, a few days before the US stopped supplying Ukraine with weapons, the total cost of aid since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022 was $44.9 billion.
In the press release of the Pentagon dated October 21, the cost of all US military aid to Kyiv, including the year 2024, is $59.5 billion.
The difference between the two official figures – $14.6 billion – is less than a quarter of the $61 billion package approved by Congress in April 2024.
Zelensky's words about 10% refer to the fact that of this amount of $14.6 billion, only a little more than $6 billion is in the hands of Ukrainian troops, and another $8.6 billion will either be used soon or somewhere in the delivery pipeline.
President Joe Biden said that all the money allocated for arms to Ukraine will be spent. On September 26, he announced that by January, the United States would send more than $5 billion worth of weapons to Ukraine from the Pentagon's stockpiles, as well as conclude a contract for the production and supply of another $2.4 billion for air defense systems, drones, and bombs.
Based on the pace and scope of the weapons packages sent by the Pentagon to Ukraine between April and October 2024, and even taking into account the $7.4 billion that the US leader said he planned to receive in September, the White House and the Pentagon plan to spend clearly less half of the 61 billion approved by the Congress, Kyiv Post estimates.
Money appropriated by Congress that is not spent by a U.S. federal agency during the fiscal year in which it was authorized usually does not carry over to the next year and is effectively lost.
As the publication writes, the 90% gap between the promised US military aid and actual arms deliveries is quite real and exists because Washington is delaying aid to Ukraine.
The fiscal year in the United States runs from October 1 to September 30. The White House must request Congressional approval to carry over remaining funds to the next fiscal year.
Washington will continue to provide Ukraine with sustained military aid after the current fiscal year ends. It will come within the limits of the allocated funding. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said this on Tuesday, September 3, during a briefing in Washington.