Policy Backgrounders

Ukraine War One Year Round-Up: The War and the US Budget

March 08, 2023

The US response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been a significant budget item in Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023. Including all relevant functions -- direct military aid to Ukraine, economic and humanitarian aid, support for frontline NATO members, and replenishment of US defense supplies -- Congress has appropriated a total of $113 billion in its response to the war in Ukraine. This includes provisions of four laws: the Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act (March 2022), the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act (May 2022), the Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act (September 2022), and the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act (December 2022). The last bill covers funding the remainder of Fiscal Year 2023 and was part of the omnibus appropriations legislation. All this spending counts as “emergency” spending not subject to regular appropriations provisions (in a similar manner to appropriated spending by FEMA for major natural disasters). In recent months, the level of funding has become more controversial in the US. In December, Ukraine addressed concerns over corruption: 15 officials, including the deputy infrastructure minister, the governors of five oblasts and the deputy prosecutor general, were removed or resigned in a purge of officials suspected of corruption, including corruption involving Western aid. The deputy defense minister and deputy head of the presidential office also resigned.