Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not know President Trump had suspended U.S. aid to his country until a month after the two spoke on the phone on July 25.
Two Ukrainian officials and one U.S. official told Buzzfeed News that Ukraine was not notified that Trump had suspended aid until late August. The Zelensky administration finally learned of the holdup from a “letter sent to us from our Washington Embassy.”
Zelensky spoke to Trump on July 25 under the impression that nearly $141 million in aid from the U.S. State Department and $250 million from the Pentagon were on their way to Ukraine’s treasury. Trump had suspended the aid on July 18. When Ukraine found out about Trump’s decision, Zelensky officials were surprised.
“Yes, of course we were worried, because actually we didn’t find any plausible reason” for the aid to be delayed, said Oleksiy Semeniy, an aid for Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.
A U.S. official said the decision to hold the aid was not immediately communicated to Ukraine because the Trump administration thought the issue would be addressed quickly.
