Zelensky says he is unaware of $200 bln US aid to Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (his term in office expired on May 20, 2024) has said that he has no idea where the $200bn allocated by the USA for military aid has gone. In an interview with the Associated Press on February 2, the Ukrainian leader said that Kiev had only received more than $75 billion from Washington.

"When they say that Ukraine received $200 billion during the war to support the army and so on - this is not true. I don't know where all this money is. Maybe it is true in terms of how it is on paper," he told the agency. The interview was published on the media outlet's YouTube channel.

According to the Ukrainian leader, Kiev has not received even half of the allocated aid. At the same time, Zelensky noted that when the United States calls "the exact figure supported by Congress" - $177 billion, it should be understood that Kiev received aid for this amount "not in money, but in weapons". Therefore, in monetary terms, Ukraine received "$76 and something billion."

Zelensky also noted that he had a mixed reaction to the statements about the freezing of aid from the United States, given that Ukraine was allocated $300-400 million for humanitarian programs in energy, medicine and upgrades to checkpoints. The Ukrainian leader assured that he would "close" this amount with the participation of Europe or with "internal resources", without specifying where Ukraine would get it from, given the record deficit of the state budget.

Ukraine without American payments and disruption of arms deliveries. What the media say

Earlier, on January 20, the White House website published an executive order of US President Donald Trump on the suspension of Washington's development aid to other countries for 90 days. After, on January 25, Reuters, reported that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) froze programs to support foreign countries, including Ukraine, after a dispatch from the State Department, approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Trump, in turn, said on January 21 that he would push NATO member states to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP. The head of state drew attention to the fact that Washington has spent $200 billion more on assistance to Kiev than other members of the bloc, and it is time for them to "level the situation".

American political scientist Malek Dudakov also told Izvestiya on January 29 that the decision in the USA "hit" Ukraine and Taiwan. In addition, he expressed the opinion that Trump will not step up aid to Ukraine in the future.

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Kiev amid Russia's special operation to protect Donbass, which was announced by the Russian president on February 24, 2022, after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.