US should not send more aid to fund 'proxy war' in Ukraine: Lawmaker
US Congressman Paul Gosar questions United States Park Police acting Chief Gregory Monahan during a US House Natural Resources Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on July 28, 2020 (Reuters)
US Congressman Paul Gosar said on Monday that the United States should not send additional assistance to fund a "proxy war" in Ukraine, adding that an audit must be conducted on US aid already provided to Kiev.
"Biden and Congress have already wasted nearly $200 billion American taxpayer dollars funding a proxy war in Ukraine. We should not send another dime to Ukraine and we should audit the money already sent there," Gosar told Sputnik.
The Republican lawmaker recently joined a group of other party lawmakers to introduce a resolution demanding an audit of the funds appropriated by Congress to Ukraine.
Gosar's spokesperson told Sputnik that to date, the Biden administration has yet to provide Congress with copies of all documents and any financial statements detailing purchases, recipients, and government expenditures related to congressionally appropriated funds given to Ukraine.
US journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh recently told RT that countries in the West are aware of the fact that some of the weapons sent to Ukraine are ending up in illicit markets, but their media are deliberately silent about it.
Hersh said months after the start of the Ukraine war, there were concerns about the reselling of advanced man-portable air defense missiles the West had sent to Ukraine, revealing that US broadcaster CBS wanted to publish a story about it but was forced to retract it.
The US journalist cited a source as saying that the CIA estimates Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has embezzled at least $400 million from US aid sent to Ukraine.
Western countries have been supplying military aid to Ukraine since the start of the war in February 2022. The aid evolved from lighter artillery munitions and training in 2022 to heavier weapons, including tanks, later that year and in 2023.
For the past several months Ukraine has been pushing to be supplied with fighter jets. The Kremlin, on its part, has repeatedly warned against continued arms deliveries to Kiev.
On Saturday, Andrij Melnyk, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister, called on allies to increase the influx of weapons, saying that Kiev requires a tenfold increase in weapons supply and emphasizing that "red lines" should no longer hinder Western countries from supplying Ukraine with sophisticated weapons.
Read more: GOP urge Biden to stop supporting Kiev over risk of US-Russia war