Fact Check: Warren Buffett did not send more than $500M to Ukraine — but his son did
Claim:
Warren Buffett has given more than $500 million to Ukraine.
Rating:
Context:
Howard Buffett, Warren Buffett's son, donated more than $800 million to Ukraine since 2022, through his own foundation.
Relations between the United States and Ukraine reached a low point in early 2025 after U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an Oval Office meeting. As Trump paused military aid to the nation, Ukraine and the U.S. met for negotiations in Saudi Arabia in March.
Many people online pointed to another alleged source of aid for Ukraine: billionaire Warren Buffett, claiming he sent hundreds of millions of dollars for humanitarian aid to the war-torn country.
(X user @frontlinekit)
The claim is false — Buffett did not make a donation of $500 million. However, his son Howard Buffett donated more than $800 million to Ukraine from 2022 to 2024 through the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.
The younger Buffett has long advocated for supporting Ukraine. In a 2023 Reuters interview, he warned of public "fatigue" in supporting Ukraine and worried the 2024 U.S. elections would also shift the tide of interest in Ukraine: "I do have concern about whether people can maintain the level of interest in (Ukraine). Particularly, in the U.S. one of the drawbacks will be the political campaign that we're going into."
He also visited regions in Ukraine affected by the war, and said he would continue to support the country: "It's a tougher fight, but I think it goes to the point that letting the war drag on is a huge mistake. I think the U.S. and Europe have to step up even more and help Ukraine win this war and put it to end. […] People have to understand that we're committed to Ukraine, we're not going anywhere, we're not slowing down, we'll step the pace up if that's what we have to do."
We reached out to the Howard G. Buffett Foundation to learn how much it donated to Ukraine since the Russian invasion of 2022, and how the aid was used. From 2022 to 2024, the foundation gave a total of $813,335,452. A spokesperson said:
We started working in Ukraine after the full-scale invasion in 2022 because of the war's implications for global food security and because of the humanitarian crisis the conflict created for millions of Ukrainians. All of our contributions to support Ukraine have been made to U.S. 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations, their equivalents, in-kind donations, or for direct program expenses in the following areas: demining; emergency food assistance; support to farmers; prosthetics and rehabilitation for civilians and veterans; support to emergency responders; rebuilding critical infrastructure damaged or destroyed in the war, including building school kitchens and school bomb shelters; support for war crimes investigations; youth and other recovery programs; and education initiatives to bring more attention to the war.
The spokesperson added: "We anticipate our total grantmaking in support of mitigating the war's impact on Ukraine will exceed $1 billion by the end of 2025."
The foundation has not yet released its 2024 report, but per its 2023 report it had spent $510,986,831 in Ukraine since the start of the war.
Howard Buffett also praised Zelenskyy's wartime leadership in an interview with Business Insider: "Anybody who feels that Ukraine doesn't need our support is failing to recognize what Zelenskyy is leading his country against, and it's an incredible force that he's up against."
Hansler, Jennifer. "Rubio Says the US Wants to Hear What Concessions Ukraine Is Willing to Make at Saudi Meeting | CNN Politics." CNN, 10 Mar. 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/10/politics/rubio-ukraine-saudi-meeting/index.html. Accessed 11 Mar. 2025.
"Howard G. Buffett Foundation Annual Report." 2023, https://www.thehowardgbuffettfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/HGBF-2023-AR.pdf. Accessed 11 Mar. 2025.
"Statement from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation." Email. 11 Mar. 2025.
"US Philanthropist Buffett Warns against Ukraine 'Fatigue.'" Reuters, 20 Sept. 2023. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-philanthropist-buffett-warns-against-ukraine-fatigue-2023-09-20/. Accessed 11 Mar. 2025.
"US Philanthropist Pledges $300 Million for Ukraine in 2024." The Kyiv Independent, 25 Feb. 2024, https://kyivindependent.com/us-philanthropist-pledges-300-million-for-ukraine-in-2024/. Accessed 11 Mar. 2025.
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