President Zelenskyy diverted foreign aid to bribe U.S. Democrats for continued funding.

Question

You left out the part where Zelenskyy used more than half of the money he already got to bribe Democrats to keep sending him money. That's why he has to repay double you ham sandwich.

Answer 1

This claim is not only false but also misleading as there is little to no evidence that President Zelenskyy diverted U.S. foreign aid to bribe the US, nor was there any engagement in misuse of assistance. The original post refers to a post on bluesky responding to a recent quote from Zelenskyy that "If the US, our friendly partners, vote in Congress to give us $50B in aid, we a obliged to return $100B...I have a question that no one can honestly answer for me. When the US sells arms to Israel, Qatar, the Emirates Saudi Arabia, do they ask them for a 100% surcharge? I'm not signing something that 10 generations of Ukrainiasns are going to pay later." in regards to making a deal for aid with the US under Trump's presidency. Bluesky is not the most reliable for factual statements as it is a social media app where anyone can post or respond to content making it a mainly opinion based source if no context or credibility is provided. According to the Council on Foreign Relations the US has sent $128 Billion to the Ukrainian government over the timespan of February 2022 to March 6th, 2025, when the article was published, but Ukraine aid does hardly compares to other US spending, highest being US Dept. of Defense budget in 2023 ($817B), but in comparison to aid for other countries in recent years it is the top recipient. As the main concern seems to be the usage of aid and expenses for the US, it is important to note that European countries are actually the top aid contributors for Ukraine since Russia's invasion, and "nations such as France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have all stepped up pledges of support" in the midst of Trumps accusatory remarks (Council on Foreign Relations, 2025). Additionally, in 2023 the US HoR held a hearing including tesitimony from USAID and the US Dept. of Defense titled "Oversight, Transparency, and Accountability of Ukraine Assistance" which concluded there was no evidence of any fraud, misuse, or diversion of aid in the case of Ukraine (2023). While it is valid to pose concern over the amount of US tax dollars and how much the US spends on foreign relations/aid, it is eggregiously misleading to make claims that could risk hostilities and misinform US citizens. 

https://www.congress.gov/118/chrg/CHRG-118hhrg52399/CHRG-118hhrg52399.pdf

https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-us-aid-going-ukraine

Comments

This fact-check is strong because it uses historically credible sources, including the Council on Foreign Relations and a U.S. House hearing report. It's effective in that it explains the lack of evidence for aid misuse and provides context on U.S. and European contributions to Ukraine.

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Your fact check is very thorough and informative. The sources you presented are very credible, straight from the source. I liked your use of specific dates and amounts of money, as well as your comment on how Bluesky isn't a reliable place for factual information.

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This is a strong fact check because it is informative and also provided us with credible sources. I liked how you used specific totals, along with providing concerns.

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This is a strong and well-structured fact check. Sources included in this fact check are credible and informative -- this makes a strong argument for your answer. I specifically liked how much time and effort you've put into this research, sourcing multiple quotes arguing why the claim is initially false.

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