Washington, March 18, 2026 (Agencies) — A US government watchdog has sharply criticized the lack of oversight in billions of dollars of aid sent to Ukraine, telling lawmakers that contractors failed to properly monitor the funds.
Deputy Inspector General Adam Kaplan testified before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Intelligence on Tuesday that contractors hired by the now-defunct US Agency for International Development (USAID) “failed to provide required reports on time or at all.” He warned that “mitigating risks requires more than announcing costly monitoring contracts.”
The $26 billion program was managed through a World Bank trust fund intended to support social benefits for Ukrainians displaced by the war with Russia. However, an audit released earlier this month found that Washington reimbursed duplicate payments and, in some cases, payments to ineligible recipients living abroad.
International audit firms Deloitte and KPMG were contracted to provide additional oversight but did not deliver, according to the inspector general’s probe. Following USAID’s closure in July 2025 under the Trump administration, the State Department assumed responsibility for the program.
The revelations come as Ukraine grapples with a series of corruption scandals. Businessman Timur Mindich fled the country last month before being charged with running a multimillion-dollar kickback scheme in the energy sector. The case has fueled a parliamentary crisis, with lawmakers resisting reforms demanded by the European Union and international lenders.
BBC Ukraine reported this week that President Volodymyr Zelensky has lost the ability to push his legislative agenda, as many MPs accuse him of attempting to undermine anti-corruption agencies to shield his allies from prosecution.