A post shared on X claims that the United States does not send money to Ukraine.
WE ARE SENDING THEM WEAPONS, NOT MONEY.
YOU ARE LITERALLY IN CONGRESS. YOU ALREADY KNOW THIS. https://t.co/67Bf1pibbk
— Micah Erfan (@micah_erfan) November 20, 2024
Verdict: Misleading
The U.S. does send money to Ukraine in the form of economic aid.
Fact Check:
Russia fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile at Dnipro, coming after Ukraine launched Western-made long-range missiles into Russia, according to The New York Times. (RELATED: FACT CHECK: Did Taylor Swift Say Elon Musk Was’ Radicalized By His Own Algorithm’?)
Social media users are claiming that the U.S. does not send money to Ukraine, just weapons. One user wrote, “WE ARE SENDING THEM WEAPONS, NOT MONEY. YOU ARE LITERALLY IN CONGRESS. YOU ALREADY KNOW THIS.”
This claim is misleading. The U.S. does send money to Ukraine, according to the Ukraine Oversight website. This website is maintained by the “Special Inspector General for Operation Atlantic Resolve, Promoting Whole of Government Oversight of the U.S. Ukraine Response.”
“Of the total appropriations for the Ukraine response, $43.8 billion is for governance and development programs administered by State, USAID, Treasury, U.S. International Development Finance Corp., U.S. Agency for Global Media, and Export-Import Bank of the U.S. More than one-half of this funding has been disbursed for direct budget support (DBS), which provides funding—through international intermediaries—to the Ukrainian government for salaries and expenses to continue operations and provision of public services,” the Ukraine Oversight website reads.
The website further reads:
“According to USAID, the purpose of direct budget support (DBS) is to provide the Ukrainian government with liquid funds to maintain continuity of operations. The Department of State (State) notes that DBS has also supported the Ukrainian government to ensure the delivery of essential services, including delivery of health services, support for internally displaced persons (IDP), and other forms of urgent assistance. Since the full-scale invasion began, USAID has provided direct budget support to the Ukrainian government through three World Bank-managed trust funds: the Ukraine Second Economic Recovery Multi-donor Trust Fund (MDTF), the Special Transfer to Ukraine Single Donor Trust Fund (SDTF), and the Public Expenditures for Administrative Capacity Endurance (PEACE) multi-donor trust fund.”
The U.S. provided $7.9 billion in economic support in the last round of Ukraine aid approved by Congress, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This was structured in the form of a loan, though the president can forgive the loan, per the think tank.
The U.S. has approved around $175 billion in relation to Ukraine, with $106 billion going to Ukraine directly, mostly in the form of weapons, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.