False: Russian allegations that Ukraine ‘stole’ $100 billion of US funds

In a Feb. 2 interrogation with The Associated Press, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine received a full of $76 cardinal successful subject assistance from the U.S arsenic opposed to the reported $177 billion.

Russia’s ex-president, present lawman president of the Security Council of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev seized connected Zelenskyy’s interrogation to assertion successful a Telegram station that the Ukrainian president “confessed” to being progressive successful the theft of $100 cardinal allocated by the United States to enactment Ukraine.

Medvedev utilized the sanction of a controversial WWII fig Stepan Bandera, 1 the salient leaders of the Ukrainian Anti-Soviet rebellion, who joined the German Nazi authorities for a committedness of independence.

The Kremlin uses Bandera’s name and historical inheritance to falsely overgarment the authorities successful Kyiv arsenic a “Bandera regime” and Zelenskyy its leader.

“In the vigor of candor, the person of the Bandera authorities admitted that helium and his comrades had embezzled $100 billion,” Medvedev wrote.

This assertion is false.

Since the full-scale Russian subject penetration of Ukraine successful February 2022, the U.S. Congress has passed 5 Ukraine assistance bills totaling $175 billion. Of that, $106 cardinal is designated for nonstop enactment to Ukraine, comprising immoderate $69.8 cardinal successful subject aid, $33.3 cardinal for fund support, and $2.8 cardinal successful humanitarian assistance, arsenic tracked by the Washington, D.C.-based Council connected Foreign Relations.

The remaining funds enactment U.S. activities related to the warfare successful Ukraine, arsenic good arsenic U.S. assistance to countries affected by Russia’s warfare successful Ukraine. A important information of the assistance is spent successful the U.S., backing factories and workers to nutrient weapons for Ukraine and replenishing Pentagon stockpiles.

A November 2023 article successful The Washington Post broke down the U.S. subject assistance to Ukraine, reporting that astir of it is spent successful the U.S., utilized to physique caller weapons oregon replenish U.S. stockpiles, alternatively than going straight to Ukraine. Nearly 90% of the $68 cardinal successful subject assistance benefits American workers, with 117 accumulation lines crossed 31 states and 71 cities producing weapons for Ukraine.

The Post’s findings corroborated earlier estimates by Mark Cancian of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies that overmuch of the U.S. assistance for Ukraine is spent domestically.

On Feb. 5, 2025, General Keith Kellogg, President Donald Trump's peculiar envoy for Ukraine and Russia, reaffirmed that the $174 cardinal of U.S. assistance to Ukraine is accounted for and being distributed done a transparent process:

“The United States, the American people, the U.S. citizens person fixed Ukraine implicit $174 billion. And we person enactment inspector generals connected the crushed successful Ukraine and present to way that money. So, we person reasonably bully reporting connected wherever it’s going,” Kellogg said connected the Newsmax TV channel.

Kellogg besides confirmed that portion of the allocated funds has been utilized to nutrient weapons successful the U.S. earlier being sent to Ukraine, portion different parts were spent connected replenishing and expanding U.S. weapons stockpiles.

Russian authorities media disseminated and amplified Medvedev's statement, with state-owned media outlets, including the Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, and others publishing false quality reports that Zelenskyy admitted the $100 billion-worth corruption.