WASHINGTON: US personnel are inspecting stocks of American-supplied military equipment in Ukraine as part of efforts to keep track of gear provided to Kyiv's forces, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
The United States has committed nearly $18 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since Russian forces attacked the country in February, and Washington wants to make sure it is not misused.
"A small team comprised of US Embassy Kyiv -- Office of the Defence Attache personnel have conducted multiple inspections of US security assistance deliveries within the last couple months at locations in Ukraine," spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said in a statement.
"These locations are not near the frontlines of Russia's war against Ukraine," Ryder said, adding that the "inspections are not reactive -- we have no evidence of widespread diversion of US security assistance in Ukraine."
A senior US defence official provided details earlier in the week about efforts to track the equipment, saying it starts with comprehensive records of donations before weapons are handed over.
Ukraine then tracks "security assistance from the border logistics hubs to the front line," and also "provides expenditure and damage reports to capture losses," the official said.
US personnel are conducting inspections "wherever the security conditions allow," while the Defence Department is also training Kyiv's forces so they can provide data from areas where embassy teams cannot go.
The US State Department warned last week that captured weapons pose the primary threat.
"Pro-Russian forces' capture of Ukrainian weapons -- including donated materiel -- has been the main vector of diversion so far and could result in onward transfers," the State Department said in a fact sheet.
"Russia probably will also use these weapons to develop countermeasures, propaganda, or to conduct false-flag operations," it added.
There have been two high-profile examples in recent years of American-supplied arms ending up in the hands of Washington's foes after they were lost by the forces they were provided to.
The IS group seized large amounts of weapons and vehicles from Iraqi troops during the militants' 2014 offensive, and the Taliban gained equipment ranging from rifles to aircraft when it seized control of Afghanistan last year.
RUSSIA SIGNALS RETREAT
Russian forces are likely to abandon their foothold on the west bank of Ukraine's Dnipro River, a Russian-installed occupation official said on Thursday, signalling a massive Russian retreat that, if confirmed, would be a major turning point in the war.
Ukrainian officials remained cautious about signs that Russia was abandoning the area, and there was silence from higher-ups in Moscow over the announcement of what would amount to one of Russia's most humiliating retreats since the invasion.
"Most likely our units, our soldiers, will leave for the left (eastern) bank," Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy civilian administrator of the Kherson region, said in an interview with Solovyov Live, a pro-Kremlin online media outlet.
The area includes Kherson city, capital of the region of the same name, and the only major city Russia had captured intact since its invasion in February. It also includes one side of a huge dam across the Dnipro which controls the water supply to irrigate Crimea, the peninsula Russia has occupied since 2014.
Previously, Russia had staunchly denied that its forces were planning to withdraw from the area, which President Vladimir Putin claimed to have annexed to Russia at the end of September.
Speculation swirled on Thursday over whether Russia was indeed pulling out, after photos circulated on the internet showing the main administrative building in Kherson city with Russia's flag no longer flying atop it.
Russia has fought for months to hang on to the pocket of land it holds on the west bank at the mouth of the river that bisects Ukraine. Moscow had sent tens of thousands of troops to reinforce the area, one of its biggest battlefield priorities.
Ukraine has targeted the main river crossings for months, making it difficult for Russia to supply its huge force on the west bank. Ukrainian troops have been advancing along the river since bursting through the Russian frontline there at the start of October, although their advance had slowed in recent days. -- AFP
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