President Donald Trump, as he navigates trying to end the Russia-Ukraine war, is repeatedly making false claims about the amount of aid the U.S. has given to support Ukraine.
He did so as he met with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House on Monday to discuss negotiations to end the three-year conflict.
“The United States has put up far more aid for Ukraine than any other nation, hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said. “We’ve spent more than $300 billion, and Europe has spent about $100 billion. That’s a big difference.”
Later on, in response to a question on whether the U.S. would help with reconstruction in Ukraine after the war, Trump said: “We’re in there for about $350 billion. I think that’s a pretty big contribution.”
It’s not the first time Trump said the U.S. has spent $350 billion toward Ukraine, though he has not cited where he’s gotten that figure.
Government resources place the amount of aid appropriated by Congress for Ukraine since the war began in 2022 at $174 billion.
According to the Congressional Research Service, lawmakers passed five pieces of legislation setting aside aid for Ukraine between 2022 and 2024.
The funding was at first bipartisan, but as Russia’s invasion continued, many Republicans began speaking out that the U.S. was doing too much to support Ukraine and aligned themselves with Trump’s “America First” foreign policy missive.
Ukraine Oversight, the website of the special inspector general for Operation Atlantic Resolve created years ago to track assistance to Ukraine, states the amount set aside for Ukraine by the U.S. is a bit higher at $182 billion.
That figure includes the $174 billion appropriated by Congress and additional funds allocated from specific agencies. According to the site, $83 billion has been disbursed and another $57 billion obligated, with roughly $40 billion appropriated but not yet obligated.
As for Trump’s claim that the U.S. has spent more than Europe, that is also not accurate.
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a research group based in Germany that tracks support from foreign governments toward Ukraine, estimates that the U.S. has allocated about $119 billion. The reason the estimate is different from U.S. government data, the institute explains, is because it only includes direct aid to Ukraine — not money appropriated in the bills that relate to Ukraine but are not bilateral, such restocking U.S. weapon stockpiles or aiding refugees.
By comparison, Kiel found European nations have all together allocated around $138 billion to Ukraine.
Trump’s exaggeration of aid to Ukraine comes as his administration pushes for a a deal that would give the U.S. access to profits from Ukraine’s valuable mineral resources. Trump has demanded the agreement as a way for Ukraine to pay back U.S. aid during the war.
“It looks like we’re getting very close,” Trump said on Monday. “We’re, I think, getting very close to getting an agreement where we get our money back over a period of time.”
The post Fact-checking Trump’s claims on amount of US aid to Ukraine appeared first on ABC News.
