US Hands Ukraine $3.9BN in 'Budgetary Aid' Through World Bank

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced early this week that his government had received $3.9 billion from the United States in the form of "direct budgetary aid" - which are funds given from the US and disbursed directly to Kiev through the World Bank.

"This is the first tranche of direct budget support from the United States in 2024. In total, Ukraine will receive $7.8 billion in direct budgetary assistance from the United States this year, which will allow us to confidently pass this financial period," Shmyhal posted on Telegram.

It is part of the continued Western effort to keep the war-ravaged civic infrastructure and daily services of Ukraine afloat. Without the aid, external supporters fear the country could see civic services collapse, leading to societal unrest and collapse of rule of law.

This fresh budgetary aid infusion will finance 'priority' expenditures to include rescue workers, doctors, teachers salaries, public pensions and social benefits. Farmers could also see some of the funds.

The nearly four billion is being pulled from the $95 billion foreign military aid bill signed into law by President Biden back in April, which set aside $61 billion total for Ukraine.

And specifically, below is a CSIS description of the part of the package set aside for budgetary assistance, including sustaining basic governmental services for the civilian population:

Economic support to Ukraine ($7.9 billion) assists the Ukrainian government in sustaining essential government services, including law enforcement. This support is structured as a loan, not a grant (section 508), in response to pressure from Republicans and former president Trump. There are detailed procedures by which the president can forgive the loans, giving the president a lot of authority. Essentially, the president can forgive the loans unless Congress takes specific action to disagree. Describing the procedures for these grants takes up three of the fourteen pages in the bill.

A breakdown of the aid still being dolled out, which could yet take years more...

Of course, the majority of the money marked as "aid to Ukraine" is really going is to the US military industrial complex. As the WSJ pointed out months ago, the roughly $60 billion for Ukraine will see most flow to the U.S. defense industry for additional weapons such as ammunition and rocket launchers.