Washington [US], May 13 (ANI/Sputnik)

Former US President Donald Trump in a statement slammed the United States for working to provide more than USD 40 billion in assistance to Ukraine amid Russia's special military operation and urged Europe to do more to deal with its regional concerns.

"Why are we giving more than USD 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.

Trump 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 USD 60 billion in total for Ukraine in recent years if the USD 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 USD 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 USD 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.

Trump slams Biden's giant Ukraine aid bill, urges Europe to pick up the check