Gen. Milley says oversight of US and NATO weapons in Ukraine 'not as rigorous as you might think'

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley told Congress that the United States has "some means" of ensuring accountability for U.S. and NATO weapons in Ukraine, but "it is not as rigorous as you might think."

Milley's comments Tuesday came during a Senate Armed Services Committee Defense budget hearing when Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) asked the general if he could testify to his "confidence in the U.S.–NATO–Ukrainian weapons accountability" as well as the "joint strategic oversight plan" announced earlier this year by federal inspectors general. 

While Congress allocated more than $110 billion to Ukraine within the first year of Russia's invasion, Milley said the only "hands-on accountability" that the government has is through U.S. embassy staff. Milley also said there are a few other avenues for accountability, but he would need to talk about it in a classified setting.

"There are some means and mechanisms of doing some accountability. It is not as rigorous as you might think, but I think the biggest way to measure the accountability is effectiveness on the Russian forces," Milley said.

He added that the assistance is "having a devastating effect on the Russians," who publicly have had more than 200,000 casualties in the war. 

Last August, founder and CEO Jonas Ohman of the Ukraine aid organization Blue/Yellow said that an estimated 30% of aid reaches its final destination in the war-torn country.