Although the US Congress recently approved $300 million in lethal aid for Ukraine as part of its National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the country continues to receive mostly outdated and used US military equipment, according to the Washington Post.
However, the outmoded equipment could be the result of Ukrainian military corruption, and not only incompetence in the US military bureaucracy.
It sounds like this Humvee on blocks pretty much sums up the equipping of Ukraine. https://t.co/CpNXPjIvX9 pic.twitter.com/MfTWCCltq0
— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) November 30, 2015
Previous shipments of meals ready-to-eat (MREs) previously ended up on online auction sites such as eBay according to reports, while more sensitive high-tech equipment, which faces export controls in the US, runs the risk of being captured or similarly sold off. One infantry unit of 120 men received a single bulletproof jacket from the US, according to the report.
"If the Americans are going to send us equipment, don’t send us secondhand stuff," one Ukrainian special forces commander said.
The US sent around 100 Humvee jeeps to Ukraine, although most of them appear to be meant for spare parts, according to an official interviewed by the publication.
The Ukrainian military has also lost sensitive equipment such as an AN/TPQ-49 lightweight counter-mortar radar, which was lost during Kiev's retreat from the town of Debaltsevo, according to the New York Times.
The US plans to send more equipment to Ukraine as its frozen conflict with Donbass independence supporters continues, although the Obama administration has so far refrained from sending deadly weapons, which have been referred to as "lethal aid."
