United States' Attorney General Merrick Garland said that he had authorised the United States to begin using seized Russian money to aid Ukraine, according to US media.
The announcement came during a meeting between Garland and Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin in Washington, nearly one year after Moscow's invasion of its former Soviet neighbor.
"Today, I am announcing that I have authorised the first-ever transfer of forfeited Russian assets for use in Ukraine," Garland said, according to CNN.
The money will come from assets confiscated from Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev after his indictment on sanctions evasions in April, he added.
The money will go to the State Department "to support the people of Ukraine," CNN reported Garland as saying.
Kostin welcomed the move, which he said would see $5.4 million of confiscated assets go toward "rebuilding Ukraine."
"Delighted to see the new legislation aimed at seizing the Russian oligarchs' illicit assets in action," he posted on Twitter, along with a picture of himself and Garland during the meeting.
The United States has announced several packages of sanctions against Russian citizens and organisations since the start of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Treasury Department sanctions generally seek to freeze any assets under US jurisdiction of those targeted and ban any American individual or entity, including financial institutions with US branches, from doing business with them.
