The report, based on open source data available on the official US government spending tracker, was published by The Grayzone.
In the absence of official scrutiny of Washington’s spending in Ukraine, US journalist Max Blumenthal, founder and editor-in-chief of The Grayzone, has revealed a series of “very unusual wastes and spending” that US authorities have yet to explain.
“The American public has no idea where their taxes are going. So this week we, The Grayzone, published an independent audit of US tax allocations to Ukraine for 2022 and 2023,” Blumenthal said Thursday before the UN Security Council.
Among the many “strange payments,” Blumenthal identified and singled out one for $4.4 million made by the United States Social Security Administration to the kyiv government.
A payment of $4.25 million from the Pentagon to a previously qualified military scuba contractor “fraudulent company” by the Senate Armed Services Committee. President Joe Biden’s Administration claims the payment covered the delivery of explosives material to Ukraine.
In another example of what it calls “strange spending,” the US Agency for International Development (USAIDfor its acronym in English) paid 4.5 billion dollars of sovereign debt of Ukraine through payments made to the World Bank. “This equates to $30 for every US citizen, while 4 out of 10 Americans can’t afford a $400 emergency,” Blumenthal said.
Heather Kaiser, a former military intelligence officer and lead author of this report, was able to conduct an independent audit of Washington’s “proxy war in Ukraine” through a careful search of open source data available on the official US government spending tracker. .
Kaiser reviewed all of the funding allocations where Ukraine was listed as a “location of operation” for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, finding that supplemental funds were sent to Kiev, listing “Ukraine” as the justification for spending, instead of the where the money was physically sent.
Recipients of USAID aid to Ukraine
USAID has granted 21.8 billion dollars to Ukraine through fiscal years 2022 and 2023, approximately 41% of the 53.4 billion it spent during that period, the report says.
“Mysteriously, a portion of the USAID funding intended for kyiv was sent to Kenya and Ethiopia through other agencies, with the award description stating that the projects in Africa were ‘partially funded with response funds and supplemental funds from Ukraine,'” The Grayzone revealed.
In addition, USAID has provided 20 million dollars to “various foreign awardees” since February 2020. Recipients include a Polish lobby group called Casimir Pulaski Foundationa Ukrainian television channel based in Torontoa collection of Ukrainian “anti-corruption” organizations, among others.
According to the report, USAID allocated $500,000 to the Casimir Pulaski Foundation in 2023 to fund a program dedicated to “advancing US foreign policy objectives” in Ukraine. The funds were used to “strengthen the initiative of the International Center for Ukrainian Victory in the implementation of international promotional campaigns to maintain high levels of international solidarity” with kyiv.
The Agency would also have sent 3 million dollars to the WHO in 2022 “to improve health outcomes in drought-affected areas in Ethiopia.” The description read: “Partially funded with response funds and supplemental funds from Ukraine.”
USAID sent 30.9 million to the private contractor Chemonics International, Inc. for the “Ukrainian confidence building initiative”. According to The Grayzone investigators, Chemonics has been involved in the delivery of funds and supplies from Washington to the Syrian White Helmetswhich served as the propaganda arm of the armed opposition in Syria.
Source: RT
