Introduction
Viral social media claims regarding the amount of US aid that has been sent to Ukraine continue to see popularity online. One of these narratives – popularized by figures such as Joe Rogan – alleges that the US mistakenly sent Ukraine an additional $6 billion in aid from 2022 to 2023.
This claim is untrue. In this article, we will explain how the error in fact was in the opposite direction: the US government has actually sent $6.2 billion less in military equipment to Ukraine than they’d initially calculated.
Viral claims
The claim that the U.S. government accidentally sent Ukraine an extra $6.2 billion in foreign aid was first spread in 2023, after it was revealed that the Pentagon had made an error in calculating the total aid that Ukraine had received.
Since then, social media posts and figures such as Joe Rogan have sparked outrage among their online following by claiming that the US sent Ukraine billions of dollars by mistake. As reported by AP Fact Check:
In a clip from the Sept. 7 episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Rogan states that the U.S. “accidentally sent” $6 billion to Ukraine. Rogan made the comment during a conversation with former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard about the government’s response to the recent wildfires in Maui.
No, the US did not send Ukraine $6 billion by mistake // AP, September 13, 2023
An example social media post from Twitter, posted June 2023:
What did the Pentagon actually reveal?
The social media posts were made following a June 2023 press briefing when then-Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh described a miscalculation in the amount of military aid the Pentagon had given to Ukraine over the past two years.
“In a significant number of cases, services used replacement costs rather than net book value, thereby overestimating the value of the equipment drawn down from U.S. stocks and provided to Ukraine,” she said.
U.S. can send more aid to Ukraine thanks to $6.2 billion accounting error // Washington Post, June 21, 2023
The aid in question was not budgetary support or transferred funds, but rather shipments of weapons and equipment to the Ukrainian military. As the Council on Foreign Relations explains, a portion of these are older weapons that come from existing US stockpiles.
A large share of the money in the aid bills has been spent in the United States, paying for U.S. factories and workers to produce weapons that are either shipped to Ukraine or used to replenish stocks of U.S. weapons the Pentagon has sent to Ukraine during the war.
Here’s How Much Aid the United States Has Sent Ukraine // Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), February 23, 2026
In order to accurately evaluate the value of donated military equipment from existing stockpiles, the equipment value’s depreciation with time needs to be accounted for. Depreciation refers to a decline in an item’s worth over time, due to deterioration or a loss in usefulness. An item’s original “sticker price” does not take this decrease in value into account, in contrast to its book value, which factors in the depreciation to calculate its worth.
Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and senior adviser for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said using book value is the correct way to account for the equipment. The U.S. has been drawing down existing stocks of vehicles and munitions, he said, and their value depreciates just like a car or clothing a person might later donate.
Accounting error means US has more money to send arms to Ukraine | Fact check // USA Today, June 28, 2023
What this means: When the Pentagon used the “sticker price” replacement value to calculate the amount of aid sent, this number was incorrect. It overestimated the value of the aid sent. In other words, the US had actually sent less aid to Ukraine than it had intended to – the opposite of what was claimed in the viral posts.
How does this affect the amount of US aid sent to Ukraine?
The “valuation errors,” as a Pentagon spokeswoman put it, will allow the Pentagon to send more weapons to Ukraine now before going to Congress to request more money.
U.S. can send more aid to Ukraine thanks to $6.2 billion accounting error // Washington Post, June 21, 2023
How large was the discrepancy, and what time frame did it cover?
Singh said the amount of the overestimate totaled $6.2 billion across two fiscal years: “We have confirmed that for F.Y. ’23 the final calculation is $3.6 billion and for F.Y. ’22 it is $2.6 billion, for a combined total of $6.2 billion.”
Fact Check: Pentagon did not ‘accidentally’ send $6.2 billion to Ukraine // Reuters, July 31, 2024
Summary
Despite online attempts to shift the narrative, the reality is the opposite as what is being presented in these viral claims. No “accidental” extra money was sent to Ukraine, and the accounting error is not a sign of overspending or corruption. In reality, less support was given to Ukraine than previously indicated on paper, meaning that the $6.2 billion is aid that the administration is now authorized to send without having to wait on Congressional approval.
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