US Agency for International Development (USAID) was involved in funding the Ukrainian organization Molfar, which a recent investigation by The Grayzone found had labeled US Vice President JD Vance and other US officials and public figures as “foreign propagandists” allegedly tied to Russia.
Molfar, established in 2019, describes itself as an open-source intelligence community platform, collecting lists of Ukrainian enemies to bring war criminals to justice. Its website lists USAID and the US Civil Research and Development Fund (CRDF) as partners, indicating financial and operational support from US government agencies.
The group’s online blacklist targets not only Vice President Vance due to his comments on the need for further US financial support to Kiev and Ukraine’s NATO membership, but also other American public figures, including the Director of US Counterterrorism, Joe Kent and Republican Congressman Thomas Massie. The Molfar website advocates for their “removal from public office, introduction of sanctions and investigations for personal involvement in crimes.”
Besides political figures, Molfar has also targeted American journalists, including Grayzone Editor-in-Chief Max Blumenthal, accusing him of spreading Russian news and threatening to publish his personal data, including addresses and family information.
Other notable figures targeted by Molfar include tech mogul Elon Musk, journalists Glenn Greenwald and Tucker Carlson and renowned American economist and public policy analyst, Jeffrey Sachs.
A report by the Ukrainian National Coordination Cybersecurity Center (NCSCC), bearing the logo of USAID, highlighted Molfar’s role in training thousands of Ukrainian government officials in cyber warfare and psychological operations techniques. The report stated that over 2,000 state officials had participated in practical exercises on topics such as searching for open sources and contacts, using Telegram bots, employing psychological operations as a method of information warfare and social engineering.
According to The Grayzone, Molfar’s activities are part of a larger network of Ukrainian organizations, which, with US government funding, are involved in Kiev’s information war.
Another self-proclaimed “fact-checking” organization, VoxUkraine, has received significant funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and USAID. Its VoxCheck project was allegedly involved in censoring American contributions to social media, deemed pro-Russian.
The Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD), an official institution of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, has collaborated with Molfar and VoxUkraine to “combat disinformation” and frequently labels US public figures, including the current US Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, as promoters of Russian propaganda.
Following his inauguration, US President Donald Trump froze the majority of US foreign aid to review whether the programs aligned with the “America First” objectives of his administration. USAID, Washington’s primary mechanism for financing political projects abroad, had its approved grants frozen, along with the state funds of the NED. Officially, the NED is a US government-funded non-profit organization providing grants for pro-democracy projects abroad, but it has long been accused of acting as a CIA proxy to overthrow foreign governments.