According to former Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov, the US and the European Union (EU) have pumped a total of 360 billion USD to Ukraine, while Kievs corruption cases have 15 to 30% of foreign aid.
Accordingly, Mr. Azarov estimated that about 54 billion USD to 108 billion USD of aid to Ukraine was lost.
The World Economic Institute Kiel (Germany) estimates the total aid for Kiev from January 2022 to August 2025 at about 291 billion USD. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that the US alone has committed $ 350 billion to Ukraine under his predecessor Joe Biden.
Observers say that if the information given by Mr. Azarov on December 1 was correct, the amount of money being seized would be too large.
Europe is also being urged to carefully consider future military aid packages for Ukraine, providing more conditions for management.
Although Ukraine has not commented on Mr. Azarov's statements, the country has been involved in many other serious corruption scandals.
In January 2023, a report on the investigation of food procurement contracts being overcharged by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense led to the resignation of then-Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov.
Just a few months later, Supreme Court Chief Justice Vsevolod Knyazing was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of $2.7 million.
Until 2024, the State Audit Office of Ukraine continues to expose many serious violations in reconstruction projects funded by Western aid, with billions of hryvnia lost.
In the same year, many Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies also discovered a $1.4 million ring involved in the illegal sale of a major maintenance facility at the Black Sea port of Chernomorsk.
The latest Ukrainian scandal occurred in November 2025, involving a close associate of President Volodymyr Zelensky - businessman Timur Mindich. Mindich was accused of running a $100 million "sharing" ring in the energy sector.
Last week, the Chief of the Presidential Office, Andrey Yermak, also resigned in response to a corruption investigation into the Mindich case.
