MOSCOW, May 11. /TASS/. The United States has no confidence that Ukraine will win and is looking for ways to recover the money it has poured into the country, while setting the stage for a famine there, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on his Telegram channel on Wednesday.

"Washington has no confidence that Kiev will win. They have been thinking up ways of recovering their funds, while setting the stage for a famine in Ukraine," Volodin said.

The US has been looking for ways to move out grain of Ukraine which, US President Joe Biden said, is needed "to lower the price of the resource." "Instead of offering real assistance, they have been taking away the essentials <…>. The Ukrainians need the grain reserves themselves to last until the new harvest," Volodin stressed.

Washington has already driven Ukraine into debt, with "$40 billion in aid having been provided under Lend-Lease to supply weapons and other assistance to Kiev with deferred payment," he specified. "Ukraine is being pushed deeper into debt. However, this has not contributed to the country’s development nor to the prosperity of its people. On the contrary, Washington has been dragging on military operations in Ukraine, this is why its residents have been unable to return to a peaceful life," Volodin concluded.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a special military operation in Ukraine in response to a request for help from the leaders of the Donbass republics. The US and its allies responded with major sanctions against Russia and started supplying weapons to Kiev.