US to transfer confiscated assets of Russian oligarchs to support Ukrainian war veterans

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the announcement during a press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. 

"Those who have enabled Putin's war of aggression should pay for it," Blinken said.

The State Department clarified that there are about 5.4 million confiscated assets of oligarchs.

In addition, the US will continue to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine: emergency housing for people whose homes were destroyed by Russia, medical care for victims of Russian shelling, generators for communities, and more. An additional USD 206 million has been allocated for these needs. Part of these funds will be used to help 6 million Ukrainians who have been internally displaced as a result of the war unleashed by Russia.

"A few months ago, in Helsinki, I spoke to how President Putin’s war in Ukraine has been and will continue to be a strategic failure for Russia. There’s no better demonstration of that than seeing the Ukrainian people, whose national identity Putin sought to erase, stronger and more unified than ever before. As I said then, no one has done more to intensify Ukrainians’ determination to write their own future on their own terms than President Putin," Blinken emphasized. 

He added that the US will continue to provide support "as you determine your future and rebuild a free, a resilient, a thriving Ukraine."

• On February 3, a Manhattan federal court district judge allowed prosecutors to confiscate USD 5.4 million belonging to Russian sanctioned oligarch Konstantin Malofeev. This opened the way for the further transfer of these funds to Ukraine. 

• Later, the US Attorney General authorized the transfer of the confiscated funds of the Russian oligarch to Ukraine. The funds will first go to the State Department.