Watchdog Flags Lack of Control Over Ukraine Aid Funds

(MENAFN) The U.S. provided $26 billion in aid to Ukraine without sufficient oversight of how the funds were spent, according to a government auditor briefing lawmakers.

The deficiencies were identified in a program previously managed by the now-defunct U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), as noted by the office of the inspector general responsible for monitoring it.

Contractors hired to supervise the aid “failed to provide required reports on time or at all,” Deputy Inspector General Adam Kaplan told the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Intelligence Tuesday. “Mitigating risks requires more than announcing costly monitoring contracts,” he added.

Kaplan was referring to funds sent to Ukraine via a World Bank trust fund, meant to reimburse social benefits for those displaced by the conflict with Russia. An audit released earlier this month by the USAID IG office found cases of duplicate payments or disbursements to Ukrainian citizens living abroad who were not eligible.

International audit firms Deloitte and KPMG were also contracted to provide additional oversight but did not meet expectations, the investigation found. In July 2025, the U.S. State Department assumed responsibility for the program following the Trump administration’s decision to close USAID.

Since November, Ukraine has been rocked by corruption scandals involving senior officials and associates of President Vladimir Zelensky. Businessman Timur Mindich reportedly fled the country hours before being charged by anti-graft authorities with running a multi-million-dollar kickback scheme in the energy sector, according to reports.

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