Ukraine spent nearly half of Washington’s aid on US debt bonds – media

Ukraine has significantly boosted its holdings of US government debt since the start of the conflict with Russia, the news agency RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday, citing data from the US Treasury and the Ukrainian Finance Ministry.

From February 2022 through the end of September of this year, Kiev’s investment in US debt jumped 1.8 times, or by $10.7 billion, according to RIA. The country’s current holdings of $24.5 billion are the highest since at least 2011. At the end of last winter, Ukraine’s US Treasury portfolio amounted to $13.8 billion, whereas at its lowest level, in mid-summer 2022, it stood at $7.9 billion, RIA's data shows.

During the same period, the Ukrainian government received $22.9 billion in financial assistance from Washington. RIA’s calculations show that Ukraine invested roughly half of the American aid in US debt bonds, thus effectively recycling half of what it received back to the US government.

Meanwhile, Kiev has also been getting billions in US military aid, with yet another package worth around $100 million announced on Tuesday. However, the Pentagon warned earlier this month that it was running critically low on funds allocated to Kiev and would soon be forced to begin reducing the tranches.

Russia has repeatedly accused the US of ratcheting up the conflict with its aid to Ukraine, urging both Washington and its Western allies to instead focus on facilitating peace talks between Moscow and Kiev.

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