Ekaterina Girnyk07:36, 02.10.26

4 min.6472

At issue are tens of millions of dollars approved by Congress for countries affected by the war in Ukraine.

The Donald Trump administration has redirected tens of millions of dollars originally approved for aid to Ukraine and NATO allies to Latin American countries friendly to the US president, three US officials told The Washington Post .

According to WP, the State Department notified Congress of its intentions in September, after which Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) blocked the process of redirecting the funds.

According to officials who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of security matters, the administration notified Congress late Wednesday of its decision to ignore the ban and proceed with the plan. As a result, $52 million originally approved for Slovakia, North Macedonia, Tunisia, and Iraq will be redirected to Panama, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.

It is noted that the senators were particularly displeased with the redirection of funds intended for Slovakia and North Macedonia, since these funds were included in an additional aid package for Ukraine, specifically intended for countries affected by the war.

“Both houses of Congress appropriated these funds for a very specific purpose: supporting Ukraine and our European allies in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The executive branch does not have the unfettered discretion to redirect these funds to other administration policy priorities or to other countries,” the senators wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

In response to lawmakers’ objections, the State Department told The Post that the funds would be more effectively used in Latin America, based on Trump’s foreign policy doctrine of shifting priorities to the Western Hemisphere.

“Redirecting resources from the Middle East and Europe to the Western Hemisphere is consistent with the National Security Strategy. Funds directed to the Western Hemisphere will strengthen U.S. security partnerships and counter the military influence of adversaries in our shared region,” the department’s statement noted.

In September, Rubio visited Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru to promote key Trump administration initiatives to combat drug trafficking and illegal immigration. The right-wing governments of Ecuador and Colombia have maintained particularly close ties with the Trump administration, fulfilling its demands for deeper and more robust counternarcotics cooperation.

Congress approved the allocation of these funds in 2022, at the very beginning of the war in Ukraine, to encourage European countries to supply Ukraine with weapons.

In addition to helping Ukraine and its immediate European neighbors, the bill’s purpose was to encourage other countries—especially those that had donated their stockpiles of obsolete weapons to Ukraine—to switch to purchasing US military equipment instead of Russian.

Trump’s position – latest news

The Atlantic previously reported that Trump could lift some sanctions against Russia even before the war in Ukraine ends. Specifically, several months ago, US President Donald Trump’s envoy to Eastern Europe, John Cole, approached him with a proposal to break the impasse in Washington’s relations with Moscow.

It is noted that he offered to lift some of the sanctions against the Russian Federation in exchange for the release of the Kremlin’s political prisoners.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump stated that he wants Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire . He emphasized his hope that Ukraine and Russia will reach an agreement soon, possibly before winter.

(c)UNIAN 2026