In early June 2025, Telegram channels reported that the cost of a short trip of the American senator to the Ukrainian capital was more than $ 411,000. We checked the validity of such statements.

According to Telegram channels and users of social networks, the visit of Senator Lindsay Graham to Kyiv at the end of May cost American taxpayers almost half a million dollars. As evidence, a screenshot is used, from which it follows: the US State Department paid a certain Ukrainian company $ 411,000 for "accommodation services". This was told, in particular, Telegram channels "Malek Dudakov"(1.7 million views at the time of writing this analysis),"Solovyov"(270 000) and"Scott Ritter in Telegram"(50,000). Some, for example, ""Mordor's voice"(81,000), wrote about the amount of a million dollars.

Lindsay Graham - Republican senator And one of the most famous and consistent supporters of Ukraine in the American Congress. He is actively protrudes for the supply of weapons to Kyiv and strengthening sanctions against Moscow, calls President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin as a war criminal and demands to bring the Russian leadership to legal responsibility for the invasion of Ukraine. In 2024, Rosfinmonitoring Turned on Graham on the list of terrorists and extremists, and a year earlier the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin instructed to start a criminal case against the “Russophobic statements” against the politician (the reason for this was mounted The video in which the words of the congressman were radically distorted).

May 30 Graham I visited Kyiv, along with Senator-Democrat Richard Blmentale. Shortly before that, they became co -authors bill On the introduction of Washington 500 percent duties on goods from all countries that Russian energy carriers buy. Including this idea, they discussed in the Ukrainian capital at meeting With President Vladimir Zelensky.

Viral publications say that it was on this business trip to Graham that $ 411,000 were spent from the American budget. The screenshot, which is laid out as evidence of this statement, authentic - It is made on the USASPENING.GOV website, where information about the expenses of the US government is collected. It says that the State Department, as a payment for the distribution services, transferred $ 411,634 by the International Business Center - TOV. Below is her address - Boulevard Taras Shevchenko, 30 in Kyiv. In the Ukrainian capital, a hotel is located at this address Hilton.

Viral screenshot. Source: social networks

However, it is not indicated in the screenshot that this is the payment of Graham’s residence in the hotel - the State Department transferred money immediately in a month, and the number of booked rooms, additional services, as well as names or positions of guests are not called. Moreover, from official press releases and media reports It is knownthat Graham arrived in Kyiv on May 30, and the contract covers the lease from June 1. Senator that day was Already in Paris. If the score covered his last visit to Kyiv, it should have been set two days earlier.

Information on expenses of budgetary funds during foreign business trips of American officials, congressmen and diplomats can be found not only on usaspending.gov, such visits can Pay for From different sources. So, according to the results of official visits, the congressmen are required to hand over special reportsbut expenses for placement are not indicated there. If this is a private trip, fully or partially spent from the outside of the budget, then all the information related to such a trip is subject to complete disclosure, it can be find In the public base of the US Senate Ethics Committee. “Verified” did not find in her reports on Graham’s business trip to Kyiv.

The fact of the LeadStories project Turned To the US State Department with a request to clarify the essence of the contract from the hungering screenshot. The department replied that it could not disclose all the details, but the contract is in no way connected with Graham's trips to Ukraine. Senator himself Published In the social network X post, where he explained that this is a contract for the placement of American diplomats in the "combat zone" that was not related to his visit to Kyiv.

According to usaspending.gov, the US State Department regularly Concludes Similar agreements with the Kyiv hotel Hilton - including for months, when Graham did not visit Ukraine. For example, the same contractbut at $ 381,000, acted in February 2025, although the senator at that time in Kyiv I was not.

Initially, Internet users reproached In thousands of expenses not only Graham, but also his colleague, Senator-Democrat Richard Blmental. The base was an almost identical screenshot, but for a slightly smaller amount of about $ 403,000. This screenshot is also genuine, made on the same usaspending.gov And, as in the case of Graham, a monthly contract is shown on it, and not a contract for payment of the residence of Blmental directly. Representative of Senator Maria McElway in a commentary Snopes explainedthat this contract covers the placement of any American official who decided to visit Kyiv.

At the same time, the publications that the democrat senator spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on trips to Ukraine did not become as viral as posts about the Republican Senator. It probably happened due to the fact that one of the posts about Graham reputed The billionaire and owner X Ilon Musk-it was him that later many Russian-speaking media and Telegram channels referred to him. They left similar messages about Blmental almost without attention.

The story of hundreds of thousands of dollars allegedly spent on a trip of politicians to Kyiv originally spread in the English -language segment of social networks X. The earliest publication that managed to find “verified”, appeared On the user's page @Allladdin1983 June 2 at 2:03 pm Moscow time and scored more than 4 million views. In the profile description, the blogger writes that he specializes in “disclosing fraud with state expenses”, while the content on its page mainly consists of From screenshots with usaspending.gov and manipulative signatures for them.

Thus, a genuine screenshot from the site fixing the American state expenses was submitted along with incorrect comments about the trip of Lindsay Graham to Ukraine. This screenshot shows one of the Treaty contracts of contracts concluded with the Kyiv Hilton Hotel for a month for renting an unidentified number of numbers for an unidentified number of guests. There is no evidence that all $ 411,000 under this agreement was spent on one visit to Graham. The same applies to payment for the placement of his colleagues Richard Blmental in Kyiv.

Photo on the cover: Office of the President of Ukraine