Washington

Former US President Donald Trump has criticized the Joe Biden administration for working to provide more than $40 billion in assistance to Ukraine amid Russia's invasion and urged Europe to do more to deal with its regional concerns.

"Why are we giving more than $40 Billion to Ukraine while Europe, by comparison, is giving very little, and they are greatly more impacted by a Russian invasion, obviously, than the US," Trump said in a statement on Thursday.

Trump said he was able to get European countries to pay their fair share to NATO and the Biden administration should do the same.

The former President added that China and others are "smiling all the way to the bank" with respect to the billions of dollars the United States is sending to Ukraine since February.

The United States will have authorized roughly $60 billion in total for Ukraine in recent years if the $40 billion Ukraine aid bill passes the Senate next week.

US Senator Rand Paul said earlier on Thursday that only the top five countries in the world spend more than $60 billion on military expenditures and the figure almost equals that spent by Russia.

The United States will have to borrow the money from China in order to give it to Ukraine, the Republican senator added.

The $60 billion total is more than that spent on cancer research or collected in gas taxes, and exceeds the budgets of the Department of Homeland Security and Energy Department, Paul said.