WASHINGTON (NEWSnet/AP) — Monitoring shortfalls mean the U.S. cannot track more than $1 billion in weapons and military equipment provided to Ukraine for its fight against Russian forces, according to a Pentagon report.

The audit, released Thursday, mean that 59% of $1.7 billion in defense gear that the U.S. has provided Ukraine and was directed to guard against misuse or theft remained “delinquent," the report by the Defense Department's office of the inspector-general.

While Biden administration officials stressed that there was no evidence the weapons had been stolen, the audit undermines previous assurances that rigorous monitoring would keep U.S. military aid given to Ukraine from being misused.

The Pentagon inspector-general’s report said that the Defense Department had failed to maintain an accurate serial-number inventory of those defense articles for Ukraine as required.

“There remains no credible evidence of illicit diversion of U.S.-provided advanced conventional weapons from Ukraine," Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters. "The fact is, we observed the Ukrainians employing these capabilities on the battlefield. We’re seeing them use them effectively.”

Reasons for the shortfall in monitoring included limited staffing; the fact that procedures for carrying out end-use monitoring in a war zone weren't put in place until December 2022; restrictions on movement for monitors within Ukraine; and a lack of internal controls on inventory, the report said.

The U.S. had improved monitoring since the first year of the war, and Defense Department officials told auditors they expected to have improved oversight in place this year and next.

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