The US is reducing the supply of Javelin missiles to Ukraine.

According to RIA Novosti on December 16, the US has significantly reduced its supply of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, amid a recent audit by the US Department of Defense revealing inaccurate inventory figures for these weapons after they were delivered to Ukraine.

Analysis of Pentagon reports reveals that the U.S. transferred a large quantity of weapons, including thousands of Javelin rockets, to Ukraine within months of the start of Russia's special operations in February 2022.

According to a Pentagon report, the number of anti-tank systems that Washington promised to supply to Kyiv by August 2022 had exceeded 8,500.

The latest audit report released by the Pentagon's Office of the Inspector General has shed more light on the chaotic state of arms transfers to Ukraine in the early days of the conflict.

"By checking the status of these defense items in the Security Collaboration Portal database - Monitoring Usage, they are designated as "defense items requiring enhanced end-use monitoring because they "incorporate sensitive technology or are particularly susceptible to diversion or other misuse."

Defense products subject to end-use oversight include the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), Air-to-Air Interceptor-9X (AIM-9X), Joint Air-to-Surface Missile (JASSM), Joint Air-to-Surface Missile (JSOW), Javelin missiles and command and control launchers, Stinger and Gripstock missiles, and other types of military equipment.

According to a Pentagon audit report, approximately 67% of the monitored defense items arrived in Ukraine in 2022, and their accounting was not properly tracked or controlled. At the same time, many weapons, including Javelin missiles, are no longer in the inventory of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The report states: “The quarterly inventory of the Ukrainian Armed Forces for Q4 2023 and Q1 2024 has confirmed that many of these monitored defense items supplied to the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2022 are no longer in stock.”

It is believed that the weapons delivered may have been lost, destroyed, or used by Ukrainian forces without proper planning.