President Donald Trump's freeze on the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) activity has been accompanied by comments featuring misinformation and mistruths.
Trump's row with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has added to these, with social media flooded with falsehoods about the involvement of USAID in his war-torn nation.
One post this week from a social media account whose content billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk has shared alleged, without evidence, that USAID had committed $140 million to support a "Psychological and Information Warfare Center" in Ukraine.
The Claim
A post on X, formerly Twitter, by user @amuse, posted on February 20, 2021, said: "UKRAINE: Until Trump was elected, US taxpayers were spending $140M a year to have NAFO influencers and chatbots convince them to keep sending Ukraine billions to fund the war. USAID funds were used to manipulate US voters and leaders."
The post included a screenshot of a headline that said: "Psychological and Information Warfare Center of Ukraine received $140,000,0000 per month from USAID" adding, "The Ukrainian Center had been creating fakes, comment bots, and artificially increasing views since 2022."
The Facts
Putting aside the inconsistency between the social media post and the screenshot—one saying payments were monthly, the other annual—these statements are untrue.
USAID has administered funding appropriated by Congress for Ukraine, most of which has gone toward public service employees, governance programs and humanitarian aid since Russia's invasion.
Ukraine has been impacted by the Trump administration's desire to pause USAID programs. According to a report released on February 11, 2025, by the Special Inspector General monitoring U.S. government activity related to Ukraine, between fiscal 2022 and 2024, Congress appropriated $174.19 billion for Ukraine relief, with additional funds of $17.99 billion from annual agency appropriations and $1.12 billion from other appropriation acts.
Of this, $39.9 billion was appropriated for USAID, of which $37.9 has been committed, and $34.2 billion paid. Most of this has gone to the operational budget of the Ukrainian government funding public employees, pensions, social services, and internally displaced persons. The remaining funding managed by USAID has been spent on international disaster assistance, global health programs, community and democracy initiatives, operating expenses, and audits.
Even if $140 million had been spent every year since the war started on a "Psychological Warfare and Information Center," that amount would surpass what USAID disbursed to its operating expenses, audits and health programs combined during that same period.
If USAID had implemented payments of $140 million a month, it would have surpassed the total appropriated by Congress for disaster assistance in Ukraine, or equivalent to 14 percent of what it gave Ukraine's government.
Newsweek didn't find the "Psychological and Information Warfare Center of Ukraine" in USAID and Ukraine Oversight documents. It appears to have been mentioned nowhere other than on social media.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine states that a "psychological operations unit" is part of its Special Operations Forces (SOF). A January 2025 U.S. Department of State fact sheet on the $65.9 billion it has given Ukraine, states one joint program with the Department of Defense has provided $42 million in training and other services to develop SOF and Ukraine's "National Guard, conventional forces, non-commissioned officer corps, and combat medical care since 2014."
However, this has nothing to do with the Congressional appropriations that USAID has implemented.
The image attached to the social media post was also from a nonexistent article. It is an edited screenshot of an unrelated Fox News story about DOGE funding published on February 10, 2025. Newsweek has contacted a Fox News media representative for comment.
The image also appeared on pro-Russian Telegram accounts before being shared on X. None of these posts included sources.
The Ruling
False.
Audited records of Congressionally appropriated Ukrainian aid show most of what USAID manages is Kyiv's government budget, which funds its public sector workers, social services, pensions, and internally displaced persons.
For the $140 million claim to have been true, USAID would have had to have paid out more to this "Psychological Warfare" center than most of its actual spending obligations.
The image used to support the claim was based on a nonexistent article, edited from a real but unrelated story by Fox News, not about Ukraine. The claim appeared on Russian Telegram accounts before it was spread widely by English-speaking commentators on X, formerly Twitter.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
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