Ukraine and the U.S. held the first joint inspection of weapons and other military equipment provided by Washington in one of Ukrainian military units, the Defense Ministry reported on Jan. 20.
The Defense Ministry's Internal Audit Service and representatives of the Armed Forces took part in the inspection from the Ukrainian side, joined by employees from the Office of Defense Cooperation of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.
The inspectors examined serial numbers, technical conditions, and proper storage conditions of the weapons, and the results are yet to be established, according to the Defense Ministry. "During the joint work, there were no complaints from the U.S. representatives."
Such joint inspections of U.S.-supplied weapons will continue, the ministry added.
"Ensuring access to storage locations, openness, and systematic joint inspections are concrete measures we are taking to increase transparency and strengthen trust in relations with partners," said Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Yurii Dzhyhyr.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry and the U.S. Embassy agreed on extended monitoring of the final use of U.S.-delivered weapons in November last year to ensure Washington's requirements for recipient states of such weapons are met.
"Certain types of missiles, launcher systems, drones, and night vision devices provided by American partners are manufactured using sensitive technologies and therefore require careful monitoring and special storage conditions. The procedure for joint monitoring has been agreed upon for these types of weapons," Dzhyhyr said on Dec. 14, as cited by the Defense Ministry.
In July 2023, the Defense Ministry said that a U.S. inspection of military equipment delivered to Ukraine hadn't found any violations, debunking claims about possible cases of misuse of U.S.'s weapons.
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