The Director of National Intelligence of the United States, Tulsi Gabbard, revealed this Friday declassified evidence regarding the existence of over 120 biolabs funded with American taxpayer money in more than 30 countries, including Ukraine.
The announcement, formalized through the press release from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) number 10-26, is the result of months of thorough review of the files from the Intelligence Community.
"After months of searching through the archives and files of the Intelligence Community, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard reveals new evidence of the long-standing funding by the United States government for over 120 biolabs in more than 30 countries," the official statement notes.
The declassified documents, approved for publication on April 23, 2026, detail that more than 40 laboratories were built and supported in Ukraine since 2005, with a total investment of approximately 200 million dollars.
The main contractor in Ukraine was the company Black & Veatch, which collaborated with local subcontractors in the design, construction, and equipping of the facilities.
Among the documented laboratories are the Kherson Diagnostic Laboratory, with a cost of 1.7 million dollars; the Veterinary Medicine Institute of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, with 2.1 million; the Central Reference Laboratory of the Ukrainian Anti-Plague Institute in Odessa, with 3.5 million; and the Zakarpatska Diagnostic Laboratory, with 1.9 million.
The documents reveal that these facilities stored especially dangerous pathogens, including anthrax, tularemia, tuberculosis, Ebola, Marburg, Lassa, SARS, MERS, and plague, among other infectious agents from the Soviet era.
The Intelligence Community had previously warned that at least one of these laboratories in Ukraine "harbored dangerous pathogens and remained vulnerable to persistent threats of attack, seizure, or damage by Russia" due to the ongoing war.
The declassified slides also indicate that "the U.S. paid Ukrainian scientists to study the genome of highly pathogenic avian influenza and other highly infectious viruses in biocontainment laboratories funded by the U.S. government."
Gabbard framed the revelation as part of complying with the Executive Order from President Donald Trump, signed on May 5, 2025, which ended federal funding for risky gain-of-function research abroad and mandated greater transparency and accountability.
"In support of President Trump's Executive Order to end federal funding for dangerous gain-of-function research worldwide and to increase transparency and accountability, the ODNI will continue working with Administration partners to identify where these laboratories are, what pathogens they contain, and what 'research' is being conducted there," Gabbard stated.
The documents also note that Russia accused the U.S. of conducting biological weapons work in a laboratory located in the basement of one of the Ukrainian facilities, an accusation that Washington has systematically denied, insisting that these are biosecurity and public health programs.
The overseas biolaboratory program has its roots in the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, established after the end of the Cold War to dismantle weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet republics, and is managed by the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
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