🌊 We Tracked $117B in Ukraine Aid

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By Max Frost

"The United States has put up far more aid for Ukraine than any other nation, hundreds of billions of dollars," Trump said last month. "We've spent more than $300 billion, and Europe has spent about $100 billion. That's a big difference."

Trump later gave the figure of $350B – a number that has since become the norm on X and elsewhere. 

Elon Musk, meanwhile, recently tweeted that it’s “time to find out what really happened to the hundreds of billions of dollars sent to Ukraine…” 

Conservative influencer Lara Loomer replied, “It was laundered and a lot of it was used to fund NEO NAZIS in the Azov Battalion. We funded NAZIS.”

Musk replied, “Wow.”

People on the left, meanwhile, say both that the US hasn’t given that much aid and that US aid is the only thing standing between Putin and Kyiv. 

On the same day last week, for example, MSNBC wrote, “Trump's pause on Ukraine aid is like the US switching sides in WWII.” Hours later: “Trump has demanded $500 billion in rare-earth minerals from Ukraine even though allocated U.S. military aid is worth about $123.9 billion – aid actually sent is even less.”

So what is it? How much aid is the US actually giving Ukraine? And where is it going?

Since 2022, the US Congress has approved $175B in Ukraine-related assistance across five emergency packages. $117B (roughly two-thirds) of this was defense-related, while $57B was for economic, humanitarian, and other non-defense purposes​.

In today’s deep dive, we dig into that $117B: Where did it go?

Editor’s Note

So that’s where the money is going. Is that a good thing? A lot of it stays in the US. Is that a reason to keep it going or cut it off? We are very eager to hear your thoughts on today’s story. Please reply here to share them.

And in case you missed any of our last five, read them here: 

• Peace in Turkey, war in Syria, and an election in Romania

• Our on-the-ground report with a former child soldier

• Our Interview with the Mastermind behind Trump’s Tariffs

• The “Fringe” New Leader of the NIH

• Did the US spend $8M to make mice trans? 

Reader Replies

Lots of people seemed to enjoy yesterday’s international deep-dive, so we’ll bring that back next week. Thank you all for your feedback. 

Olivia wrote about the Romanian report:

Teresa wrote:

And Greg wrote:

Thank you all for the kind words. We’ll be sure to do more of those stories next week. 

See you tomorrow. 

–Max and Max