US Announces $4.5 Billion in Direct Budgetary Aid for Ukraine

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced Tuesday an additional $4.5 billion in direct budgetary aid for the Ukrainian government.

Yellen said that the new funds will bring total US budgetary aid for Ukraine to $13 billion, and more is coming as Ukraine expects the US to help pay for its massive budget deficit in 2023.

The aid is being disbursed by the US through the World Bank. According to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the funds will be sent to Ukraine in two tranches before the end of 2022.

The budgetary aid is meant to fund Ukrainian government services. USAID said that there will be “robust safeguards” and third-party monitoring to “ensure accountability and transparency in the use of these funds,” but it’s not clear how much real oversight there will be.

Before Russia’s February 24th invasion, the US and its Western allies would cite Ukraine’s corruption as a reason why the country couldn’t join NATO or the EU. But those concerns seemed to have waned as the West has shipped tens of billions of dollars to the government.