Fact Check: Trump Repeats False $300B Ukraine Aid Claim While Meeting With Zelensky

President Donald Trump reiterated a long-debunked claim Monday that the United States has provided Ukraine with more than $300 billion in wartime aid, telling reporters it could even be $350 billion. Independent tallies and U.S. oversight figures show the total is far lower.

The Kiel Institute for the World Economy estimates the U.S. allocated about $134 billion in military, financial, and humanitarian support to Ukraine from late January 2022 through June 2025, nearly all of the $139 billion committed over that period. The U.S. government inspector general overseeing the Ukraine response cites roughly $185 billion appropriated through March 2025, but that larger figure includes money spent in the U.S. for weapons and services or routed to other countries, not solely assistance delivered to Ukraine.

A Trump official previously tried to bridge the gap to $350 billion by adding items that are not aid to Ukraine, including more than $90 billion in domestic inflation experienced by U.S. households, a $16 billion decline in U.S. exports to Russia, and over $7 billion in higher fertilizer costs after Russia’s invasion. Those costs do not constitute U.S. assistance to Ukraine.

Trump also repeated falsehoods about mail-in ballots. Despite his claim that the U.S. is the only country using mail voting, dozens of nations—including Canada, the UK, Germany, Australia, and Switzerland—utilize mail-in systems. Election experts say mail ballots are legitimate; while fraud rates are marginally higher than for in-person voting, overall rates remain tiny in federal elections. Republican-led Utah has long used widespread mail voting without evidence of widespread fraud.

Citing former President Jimmy Carter, Trump claimed a bipartisan commission concluded you “will never have an honest election” with mail-in ballots. The commission did not say that. It warned absentee ballots can be vulnerable if safeguards are weak, but it highlighted Oregon as a successful mail-only model with protections like signature verification. In 2020, Carter himself said he approves the use of absentee ballots and has used them for years, and the Carter Center noted many states have implemented safeguards to address concerns.

Credit: CNN Newsource

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