Leveraging frozen Russian funds to protect US troops and defend Ukraine

Originally published in The Hill President Trump’s unilateral war of choice in Iran, which now engulfs the entire Middle East, is inextricably tied to Ukraine’s future security interests and survival as a European democracy.

If they weren’t before, the U.S. and Ukraine are now fully joined in a common alliance against a newly desperate Moscow-Tehran axis. The urgency of quick action is underscored by news reports that Russian intelligence is guiding Iran’s bombing of U.S. bases and targets, putting the lives of U.S. service members at even greater risk.

Trump needs to do all he can to protect our military personnel who he has now put in harm’s way. He will need help from Congress and other allies.

A week after he ordered an unprovoked and illegal attack on Iran, the U.S. has asked Ukraine for its help with drones to protect our troops and assets in the region. Without hesitation, President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to help the U.S. given Ukraine’s deep battlefield experience and expertise using drones to defend against Russia’s ongoing aggression and relentless terror campaign.

Building on last year’s acknowledgement of the necessity of Ukraine’s long-term security underpinning the U.S.-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund and to solidify the new security linkage between the U.S. protecting vital interests in the Middle East and Ukraine protecting its citizens and homeland, the issue of what to do with immobilized Russian sovereign assets is once again front and center since they were first sanctioned in 2022.

The issue is simple because these frozen Russian funds could materially enhance Ukraine’s security and help fuel Ukraine’s defense against Vladimir Putin’s aggression at no cost to U.S. taxpayers. There is a two-part deal to be done to repurpose those unutilized Russian funds, to first pay for Ukraine’s defense with U.S.-made or sourced weapons; and second, to expedite the U.S. ability to benefit quickly from Ukraine’s battle-tested experience and expertise in drone warfare to protect American troops, equipment and military installations in the Middle East.

Three questions need to be answered first, however. How much Russian money is available? What can be done under current law and by passing pending legislation? And why it is in America’s vital interest to do so now, when it wouldn’t act before under either Presidents Joe Biden or Trump?

We know today that there is a minimum of $5 billion in frozen Russian Central Bank reserves at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Experts estimate there could be as much as $50 billion in addition to that amount in the broader U.S. financial system.

The U.S. immediately determine and make public an official total aggregate amount that could be used to help defend Ukraine and, by extension, expedite protection for our exposed troops in the Middle East. In October 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department reported to Congress as required by law on the amount of Russian funds here. The only problem was that for some unknown and undisclosed reason, Treasury classified the remainder of the Russian funds frozen in the rest of the U.S. financial system without explanation, so we still don’t yet have a precise and official total of available Russian funds.

Although the Treasury Department missed the 2025 required reporting deadline, congressional sources now report that the Treasury filed the report late with the appropriate congressional committees, but did not release it publicly. Given the urgency of the escalating war in the Middle East, Treasury needs to immediately release its report to the public, including the total aggregate amount of Russian sovereign assets in the U.S. financial system that may be hidden in the classified annex for no good reason.

Under current law, Trump could seize all immobilized Russian sovereign assets by executive order tomorrow for immediate transfer to Ukraine.

Given Putin’s longstanding self-interest in supporting Iran’s extremist theocratic regime and the latest reports of Russia sharing intelligence to help Iran bomb U.S. targets, the president should tell House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to immediately put the PEACE Act on the floor for a vote and have the Senate follow. That bill passed the House Financial Services Committee by a vote of 53-to-1 last July.

The reason this pending legislation is urgently needed is because it also contains a critical amendment to current law to permit Ukraine to use transferred Russian funds to buy “defense articles.” To date, the White House has blocked that legislation from being scheduled for a House vote despite overwhelming bipartisan support.

The answer to “why now?” is simple. Ukraine has been successfully defending itself from Russia’s war machine for over four years. It has both military drone technology and battlefield expertise and experience that we desperately need to protect our troops and save lives as Trump’s Middle East war escalates.

The president as commander in chief needs to act now to not only help Ukraine at no cost to U.S. taxpayers but also protect U.S. troops and civilians in the new Middle East war zone he created and now owns.

(Photo credit: AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)