NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Washington is relying on extensive safeguards and dozens of oversight agencies to scrutinize and protect billions of dollars in U.S. aid to Ukraine amid the country’s continuing struggle with corruption, a regional security expert said Sunday.
The oversight comes as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s inner circle faces renewed political pressure from widening investigations, with several senior officials and aides resigning, being dismissed or facing investigations since 2025.
Zelenskyy dismissed Iryna Mudra, a deputy head of the presidential office, on Aug. 19 as anti-corruption investigators pursued a money-laundering case involving another deputy head of the office.
Investigators have not named Mudra as a suspect, The Associated Press reported.
ZELENSKYY SAYS PUTIN ‘LOST THE INITIATIVE’ AS UKRAINE’S TECH INDUSTRY RESHAPES THE WAR
“Of course, in all of the former Soviet Union countries, there is significant corruption,” former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Carrie Filipetti, now executive director of the Vandenberg Coalition, told Fox News Digital.
“A lot more work needs to be done. But we know, at least on the U.S. side, as we’re providing support for their military, we have a lot of mechanisms,” she said before explaining how dozens of agencies are working on oversight of U.S. aid to Ukraine.
The U.S. committed $67.8 billion in defense articles and services to Ukraine from February 2022 through March 2026 through the Presidential Drawdown Authority, the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and Foreign Military Financing, congressional reports show.
That support is part of a broader U.S. response to the war.
About $195 billion has been appropriated for Operation Atlantic Resolve, including funds to replenish U.S. weapons stocks, support U.S. military operations in Europe and provide economic, development and humanitarian assistance, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
AS TRUMP’S NATO GAMBLE PAYS OFF, ENVOY NAMES ALLIES HE’S STILL WATCHING
“Over 24 federal agencies are involved in oversight,” Filipetti said. “To make certain that there are no consequences to the U.S. taxpayer, to our equipment in terms of the corruption issue, U.S. contributions are very much protected.”
In recent months, however, senior Ukrainian officials have resigned, been dismissed or faced scrutiny by the country’s independent anti-corruption bodies, including NABU.
Those developments include Andriy Yermak’s Nov. 28, 2025, resignation after investigators searched his premises and Mudra’s Aug. 19 dismissal during a money-laundering probe.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna was dismissed by Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S. on Aug. 3, two days before a suspicion notice was served against her, according to the Kyiv Post.
He also fired Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov on July 15 in a broader reshuffle over internal wartime disagreements which sparked protests across the nation.
ZELENSKYY PRESSURES US AND EUROPE FOR MORE ‘AIR DEFENSE’ ASSISTANCE AMID ONGOING WAR WITH RUSSIA
In interviews after he left government, Fedorov also complained about what he described as ingrained corruption and patronage networks, Reuters reported.
“We’ve seen that Zelenskyy is taking really seriously the criticisms of corruption, and every time there is an allegation, he moves very swiftly to remove those individuals from the government,” Filipetti said.
“And the fact that there are these independent bodies is, I think, really important. They’re listening to them. They’re making sure that they’re trying to root it out as much as humanly possible.”
THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT AMERICAN WEAPONS SYSTEMS NATO IS EAGER TO HAVE
Zelenskyy has pushed back on suggestions that the investigations implicate him personally.
“The heads of anti-corruption agencies have zero questions for me,” Zelenskyy said in remarks published Aug. 23 regarding the investigations. “They understand perfectly well that I am not involved in anything like that.”
A February 2024 USAID inspector general review also found that the agency did not independently verify some Ukrainian health workers’ salary claims before reimbursement, though Filipetti said U.S. economic aid is now reimbursed only after verification.
“A lot of what the United States has been providing, we’re making sure that everything is through a reimbursement mechanism,” Filipetti said.
TOP UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS IN ZELENSKYY GOVERNMENT SUBMIT RESIGNATIONS AMID $100 MILLION CORRUPTION SCANDAL
She said U.S. aid has not been tied to the money-laundering allegations and remains protected as Ukraine works to combat corruption.
The scrutiny also comes as Kyiv faces shortages of Patriot interceptors amid intensified Russian strikes and a need for air defense interceptors.
Zelenskyy said he wants to secure 300 additional interceptors for the coming winter, while Ukraine’s air force has requested 360.
“One of the most urgent needs that the Ukrainians have right now is interceptor missiles,” Filipetti said. “This is why this idea of sending Patriot capabilities and allowing them to produce them on the ground in Ukraine has become so important to Zelenskyy.”
RUSSIA’S GAS GAMBLE BACKFIRES AS TRUMP’S ENERGY VISION RESHAPES EUROPE
President Donald Trump has expressed reluctance to further deplete U.S. missile inventories, saying the United States also needs the weapons, while pressing European allies to shoulder more of Ukraine’s defense burden.
“We want missiles too,” Trump said Aug. 6 when asked about Zelenskyy’s requests for long-range missiles and Patriot systems. “Biden gave him so much, Biden gave $300 billion worth of ammunition.”
Filipetti also said Ukraine’s anti-corruption efforts remain an important consideration for its NATO aspirations.
“I think every country has been really adamant that the Ukrainians move forward in their anti-corruption mechanisms,” Filipetti said.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“Obviously, if Ukraine ever wants to be a formal member of NATO, that’s something that they will need to prove and demonstrate.”
Read the full article here
