Pentagon inspector general says nearly 100 people overseeing Ukraine aid amid corruption concerns

Pentagon Inspector General Robert Storch said he has nearly 100 people overseeing Ukraine aid with more than 20 different audits focusing on the country amid corruption concerns.

"Close to 100 people [are] engaged in oversight right now related to Ukraine," Storch said at a reporter roundtable, Defense One reported Tuesday. "Of those, 20 are forward deployed in the region, mostly in Germany, but in other areas as well, auditors, evaluators, investigators."

Storch also said that Ukraine oversight is "job one" in his office, which has more than 20 planned audits targeting the country.

A senior Defense Department official in the Inspector General's Office told the military outlet that Ukraine knows it is fighting Russians as well as internal problems.

"They acknowledge that they are fighting a two-front battle," the official said. "They are fighting the Russians and they were fighting internal corruption. ... Many of the people that, you know, would normally have helped fight the corruption battle on the frontlines are fighting the Russians."

The official also said his agency understands aid may not make it to its intended destination. "We just consider the risk high, no matter what," the official said.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is also probing U.S. aid to Ukraine, which has totaled more than $100 billion since Russia invaded in February 2022.

Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.