“Just so you understand, Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine. They get their money back.” “Now, in fact to be frank, we paid. We paid 60 percent of the total defaults, and it was like the U.S. — loans, guarantee grants — and we provided real money, to be clear.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed that the U.S. spent $350 billion on assistance for Ukraine. Trump has used the sum to pressure Ukraine into signing a deal that would give the U.S. at least a 50% interest in Ukrainian natural resources through a joint investment fund as payback for its support for Kyiv.