Kyiv receives $3.9bn grant from America, PM says

Ukraine has received a $3.9 billion grant from the United States via the World Bank, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Monday.

“This is the first tranche of direct budget support from the United States in 2024. In total, Ukraine will receive $7.8 billion in direct budgetary assistance from the US this year, which will allow us to confidently pass this financial period,” Shmyhal said on the Telegram messaging app.

The Ukrainian Finance Ministry, in a separate statement, said the funds would be directed toward wages for teachers, staff of the State Emergency Service and other public employees, as well as assistance for displaced persons, low-income families and people with disabilities. “The grant will help Ukraine to reimburse priority social and humanitarian expenditures without increasing the debt burden,” Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said in a statement.

The ministry said that since February 2022, direct budget support from the US had reached almost $27 billion, the largest source of financial assistance to Ukraine. Marchenko said the grant was a part of a large $60 billion package of support for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Ukrainian pilots have started flying F-16s for operations within the nation, confirming the long-awaited arrival of the US-made fighter jets more than 29 months after Russia’s invasion. The Ukrainian leader announced the use of F-16s, which Kyiv has long lobbied for, as he met military pilots at an air base flanked by two of the jets, with two more flying overhead.

“F-16s are in Ukraine. We did it. I am proud of our guys who are mastering these jets and have already started using them for our country,” Zelensky said.

The arrival of the jets is a milestone for Ukraine, though it remains unclear how many are available and how much of an impact they will have in enhancing air defenses and on the battlefield.