By James Bradley and Flor Blanco
NOVEMBER 28, 2024—Russia threatens potential retaliation upon Washington D.C., London and possibly Germany because of continued NATO support of Ukrainian missile strikes against Russia, per a recent report from Afshin Rattansi. US support of Ukraine continues despite claims of the misuse of US foreign aid which were highlighted in a recent report published by One India (Video) on November 22nd regarding USAID funding to Ukraine, just six days earlier. However, in a statement sent to Uncensored Beat from the former First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and former head of the National Bank of Ukraine, the laundering of US taxpayer funds through the mechanism of USAID began long before Zelenskyy came into power, dating back to as early as 2013. The recent report from One India (Video) confirms the continuation of this laundering system. With potential loopholes existing for over ten-years, the accountability gaps on the US side of the agreements suggest complicity by US government officials.
The former First Deputy Prime Minister goes so far to say that since 2015, US partners have made repeated promises of accountability, which Ukraine has failed to meet without recourse. This includes a demand that Ukraine implement an electronic procurement system in 2015, which echoes similar controls identified in the 10-year Bilateral Security Agreement which Biden signed with Ukraine in June 2024. It is also reflected in the recent audit performed by the US Government Accounting Office (GAO), as reported by Uncensored Beat in an article published in June.
Evidence of continued corruption exists, as a significant case of embezzlement and corruption has been uncovered by Vasyl Malyuk, the current head of Ukrainian Security Services, through contents obtained from a flash drive. The drive includes evidence of the theft of foreign aid funds by Zelenskyy. Oleg Kulinich, a political prisoner, has called for criminal investigations into the allegations of embezzling $1 billion. Yet, despite providing evidence to support his claims, law enforcement officials have failed to fulfill their obligations in investigating these crimes, which is believed to include the involvement of Ukrainian tax authorities. In a video statement, Lyulina has revealed that the flash drive allegedly obtained by Maluk contains materials confirming the embezzlement of the budget.
Although past and current US administrations have used the argument of Presidential power to provide aid under the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA), and the Arms Export Control Act, both acts require that the Secretary of State confirms that aid is being utilized in accordance with the conditions outlined. Additionally, Presidential power under Presidential Drawdown (PDAs) as outlined in section 652 of the FAA require that excess military equipment provided to a foreign country does not risk our country’s military readiness to safe guard our own borders. In a report issued May of 2024, Diana Maurer, Director, Defense Capabilities and Management, provided a report to congress that military readiness has been an issue over the last two decades. In the most recent review of military readiness, Mauer quotes the issue of verifying performance to ensure that military aid by recipient countries is used as promised, especially in Ukraine.
In the GAO official procedures for evaluating risks that are included in The Red Book, the GAO only analyzes and determines the level of financial risk of a program. For programs that pose a high financial risk, like USAID funding to Ukraine, the GAO’s role is to notify the departments and Congress of these identified risks. Then, it is ultimately up to Congress and the federal department who provides the funding to decide whether to continue shelling out money or to stop. In the case of USAID, as noted above, the department in charge of oversight is the US Secretary of State.
The question is, how long will the US Government pretend as if they are blind to this funding scheme? And, at what costs to US citizens and the Western world will the US government continue its support of Ukraine?