Media betrayal? Is the US abandoning Ukraine funding
FILE PHOTO: Members of the media leave a signing ceremony for an executive order with U.S. President Donald Trump, as the cranes working on the East Wing are visible in the background after a judge said Trump cannot construct his planned ballroom without approval from Congress, in the White House in Washington, D.C., March 31, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci/File Photo
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How a simplified presentation of information can lead to inaccurate or even false conclusions.
The White House has submitted a draft (the vision of the US executive branch) of the US budget for fiscal year 2027, with particular emphasis on defense, security, and international cooperation.
And so it went: sensational headlines in the media, sharp articles by journalists, traditional comments by “universal experts…”
“Budget without Ukraine: White House removes Kyiv from 2027 funding.”
US Budget 2027: No Aid to Ukraine is Provided.
“There is no support for Ukraine in the draft US budget for 2027…”
What is the real situation?
If we take only defense cooperation into account, Ukraine ALREADY has $400 million allocated for 2027 under the USAI program. These funds are protected. They are already in the NDAA law. They cannot be canceled by the US president without changing the legislation. At the same time, they can be increased if we work with Congress.
There are still funds left under the PDA mechanism (almost $5 billion), but this is a decision by the US president. There is little optimism here.
There are also funds under the FMF program, but we still have to fight for them.
We must look not only at what is added and defined, but also at what is NOT DELETED or REDUCED.
For example, the proposed reduction in overall spending on the State Department and related international programs is huge ($15.5 billion, or 30.4 percent). But at the same time, the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program (for all countries, not just Ukraine) is proposed to allocate $18 billion ($5.3 billion in grants or subsidies, the rest in loans).
And most importantly, the White House is submitting its vision to the US Congress, and there are opportunities to adjust this budget draft or define additional aid to Ukraine in separate laws and control what has already been financed.
Of course, the situation is not easy now; funding from the US has already decreased dramatically and does not match the level of strategic partnership between Ukraine and the US. But it is not worth drawing premature conclusions, because the budget will be adopted only at the end of the year (traditionally, the October 1 deadline is not met, and the NDAA is adopted sometime in December).
Perhaps the midterm elections to the US Congress will provide additional chances to increase support for Ukraine. We need to work now, not “push ourselves.”
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