"For instance, if we consider the funds from the United States of America, throughout this war, decisions have been voted on or made amounting to about $177 billion. Let's be honest. We haven't received half of that money," Zelensky stated.
He also mentioned that he had asked the American side to allow the transportation of weapons that the U.S. had supplied to Ukraine using cargo planes from "Antonov," which were in Europe due to the war.
"We had cargo planes; we have excellent cargo aircraft. Very good ones. Thanks to 'Antonov.' So I requested the American side to provide me with this opportunity – to transport using our planes, to avoid paying a lot to your companies. American companies. And no, I was not granted that opportunity. My planes were grounded, while this weaponry was being transported by American cargo planes. But everywhere, money has to be spent. Thus, we could have received more armaments, but we had to pay for those very expensive aircraft," he said.
According to Zelensky, the lobbying for such decisions is handled by "certain companies making these decisions," but he could not speak about it openly to avoid provoking scandals and risking U.S. support being withdrawn.