“The real value of US military assistance to Ukraine is only $ 18.3 billion, which is much lower than those figures called in Washington. This is stated in the study of Economists for Ukraine. It is noted that the main reason for the differences is an inflated estimation of old US arms reserves. The Ministry of Defense has stated that the transferred equipment costs $ 31 billion but researchers estimate its real value”, – WRITE ON: ua.news
The real value of US military assistance to Ukraine is only $ 18.3 billion, which is much lower than those figures called in Washington.
This is stated in the study of Economists for Ukraine.
It is noted that the main reason for the differences is an inflated estimation of old US arms reserves. The Ministry of Defense has stated that the equipment transferred costs $ 31 billion, but researchers estimate its real value of $ 12.5 billion. Much of the equipment has been written off, and its use in battle is limited, which further reduces its cost.
Indirect transmission of equipment through all-Union countries, including Poland, is about $ 20 billion in defense investments, but only $ 340 million of them directly reached Ukraine.
According to researchers, since the beginning of the war, the United States has provided $ 50.9 billion in Ukraine. Of these, $ 18.3 billion is a defense assistance, another $ 32.6 billion went to budget support – salaries, pensions and other expenses reimbursed through World Bank mechanisms and USAID.
“Public stories about assistance to Ukraine often do not take into account the difference between appropriations and actually provided assistance,” – said the management of Economists for Ukraine.
Secondly, much of the money goes to order new weapons in the United States, but supplies occur with great delays. Of the $ 12.1 billion allocated for the purchase of new equipment, the real cost of assistance for Ukraine is estimated at only $ 5.5 billion.
Some of the American assistance is provided in the form of loans and guarantees. For example, the United States used frozen Russian assets to provide loans to Ukraine and Moldova for $ 25 billion.
For example, a $ 156 million loan allowed Ukraine to purchase US production locomotives, supporting 800 Pennsylvania jobs.
In general, the study concludes that the actual cost of US military assistance to Ukraine is $ 18.3 billion, while another $ 32.6 billion was provided in the form of budget assistance, mostly due to cost reimbursement mechanisms.
Thus, the total cost of aid in three years was $ 50.9 billion – an average of about $ 17 billion a year. This is reported that only 0.25% of the US federal budget. For comparison, this is about the same as Washington spends on the maintenance and energy supply of government buildings.
Separately, the authors of the report emphasize that Ukraine carefully controls all revenues. Thanks to the electronic government system, you can track each hryvnia spent – from the salaries of civil servants to the purchase of office paper. The audits did not find abuse or anomalies in the use of international assistance.
Earlier, Zelensky reported that the United States did not stop Ukraine’s departure of help, but did not give anything new. Trump wants to know how Ukraine will pay.
According to the Pentagon, since the beginning of a full -scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine, the United States has assisted Ukraine for about $ 183 billion. $ 65.9 billion of them were spent on military support.
