Ukraine: U.S. State Department Has Taken Steps to Enhance Monitoring and Evaluation of Assistance

What GAO Found

The U.S. Department of State's Office of the Coordinator of U.S. Assistance to Europe and Eurasia (EUR/ACE) is responsible for coordinating and overseeing foreign assistance to Ukraine. In June 2023, EUR/ACE entered into a 3-year contract for Monitoring, Evaluation, and Audit Services for Ukraine Reporting (MEASURE). This contract assists EUR/ACE in overseeing nonhumanitarian, nonmilitary assistance programs implemented within Ukraine and funded by supplemental appropriations, such as training and equipping Ukraine's police and border guards and ensuring the safety of nuclear power operations.

Many MEASURE contract tasks have been completed, such as progress reports on programs funded by U.S. assistance. For these reports, MEASURE's contractor compiled available information on outcomes of assistance, which EUR/ACE has used for decision-making, particularly with respect to project oversight. But data availability and timeframes to realize outcomes have varied, which have limited the MEASURE contractor's ability to analyze outcome information and conduct evaluations. In response, EUR/ACE has adjusted the structure and timing of contract deliverables to enhance their ability to inform decision-making. For example, EUR/ACE revised the progress reports to be more streamlined, include more analysis, and issue semiannually rather than quarterly.

As of November 2025, MEASURE tasks not yet completed included evaluations across projects and a selection of strategic outcome indicators, both of which were meant to provide a broader sense of the effectiveness of Ukraine assistance. These and other deliverables were delayed due to implementation challenges, such as needing to negotiate access to key data and working in a wartime environment, as well as the administration's decision to conduct a foreign assistance review and pending updates to the Ukraine Assistance Strategy. EUR/ACE officials expect that the planned evaluations and selection of strategic outcome indicators will provide a greater sense of the extent to which the assistance provided has been effective in meeting U.S. objectives as defined in the Ukraine Assistance Strategy. 

Why GAO Did This Study

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the U.S. government has appropriated tens of billions in assistance for Ukraine and countries impacted by the situation in Ukraine. As of September 30, 2025, according to State, the MEASURE contract helped EUR/ACE oversee $6.1 billion of the supplemental appropriations for Ukraine—$4.3 billion from the first four supplementals and a further $1.8 billion from a fifth supplemental that is subject to change in fiscal year 2026.

GAO was asked to review the oversight mechanisms in place for U.S. assistance to Ukraine. This report is part of a series of work GAO has done evaluating U.S. oversight of Ukraine assistance. This report discusses: the design and status of the MEASURE contract, challenges faced during implementation, the outcome information the MEASURE contract provided, and State's use of this information.

GAO reviewed the MEASURE contract and associated deliverables and spoke with EUR/ACE officials, contractor representatives, and five U.S. government implementing entities on the implementation of the contract and associated challenges and mitigation efforts. GAO selected these entities based on factors such as their amount of Ukraine assistance funding.