USAID failed to monitor uses of Musk's Starlink terminals sent to Ukraine, says watchdog
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Agency for International Development did not monitor the uses of 5,175 Starlink terminals sent to Ukraine, with nearly half of the operational units ending up in areas fully or partly held by Moscow, according to a report by the agency's internal watchdog.
USAID's inspector general found that the agency failed to keep track of the terminals of Elon Musk's satellite internet service because it had accepted a higher risk of misuse due to "the complex wartime environment" and Ukraine's urgent need for them.
"As a result, USAID did not know where the terminals were or how they were used," said the report dated August 11 that was reviewed by Reuters.
In response, USAID said it was impractical to track the terminals once they were handed to Ukraine because of the dangerous wartime conditions and the "unprecedented emergency" created by Russian strikes on communications systems.
"The primary objective was to restore life-saving connectivity for critical public services, such as healthcare, municipal emergency shelters, and local governance," said a USAID letter included in the report.
The findings were first reported by Bloomberg.
The report did not examine Ukraine's use of the terminals for military operations, including drone flights, artillery targeting and communications.
After Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, USAID partnered with Musk's SpaceX company to provide 5,175 Starlink terminals to Ukraine to sustain critical civilian services and internet connectivity, the report said.
USAID delivered to Kyiv 1,508 terminals that it purchased and 3,667 units donated by SpaceX, said the report.
It found that USAID did not "fully mitigate" the risk of the terminals being misused, and that more than half of the "active" units were "present in territories that Russia fully or partially occupied."
The report did not say how those terminals ended up in those areas, who had them or the purposes for which they were used.
Kyiv last year charged that Russian occupation troops had been using thousands of Starlink terminals acquired from private Russian firms, allegations denied by the Kremlin and by Musk.
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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