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11:37 03.02.2025 •
Trump to Zelensky – No money for Ukraine!
Photo: Anadolu
Ukraine is reeling from the shock decision by the Trump administration to pause all US foreign aid programmes immediately, as a variety of projects in the country – from military veteran rehabilitation programmes to independent media and anti-corruption initiatives – have effectively been stopped overnight, ‘The Guardian’ writes.
It was seen as inevitable that the incoming administration would overhaul USAid, the US development agency, but there was an expectation that spending on Ukraine, or at least some of the most critical programmes, would be subject to a waiver – or there would at least be a winding-down period.
Instead, a “stop work” order issued last Friday has left hundreds of projects without funding, initially for a 90-day review period. Attempts by the Kyiv USAid office to save funding for some of the most important programmes have reportedly been rebuffed in Washington.
Military aid and direct budgetary assistance to Ukraine have not so far been affected, but USAid had sent more than $7.6bn (£6.11bn) in humanitarian and development aid since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 and backed a remarkable range of projects across many sectors.
“This was the worst-case scenario,” said George Chewning, the executive director of US-Ukraine Veterans Bridge, an organisation devoted to fostering links between military veterans in the two countries. He said several partner organisations in Ukraine had suddenly found out their projects would no longer be continued. One, Veteran Hub, said it was closing a telephone hotline that had provided support and counselling to traumatised veterans.
“A lot of people thought there might be a thorough review and were prepared to justify their work and their projects but there certainly wasn’t an expectation that the funding would be halted,” said Chewning.
USAid also handled a large number of regional humanitarian aid projects, many of which were left pondering how to fill the newly created gaps, and without any idea what would remain after the three-month review period.
The US development agency was also a supporter of many of Ukraine’s independent media outlets.
Bohdan Lohvynenko, the founder of the Ukraïner online news portal, said more than 80% of the site’s funding came from the US, and the outlet was now in serious trouble. “There is no viable advertising market for war reporting, leaving us with community support or a paywall model,” he said. However, raising money in this way during wartime was very difficult, he said, with most citizens preferring to use their money to support the military.
“Some [media outlets] will survive but many will not. Already a lot of people are losing their jobs,” said Katerina Sergatskova, a co-founder of the 2402 foundation, which provides support and training to Ukrainian journalists. “If places have a cash reserve they may be able to survive for the next three months,” she said, until it became clear which USAid projects would be continued.
…Now it is clear that not only arms supplies, but even propagandistic media of Ukraine were paid by Washington. Trump, apparently, is tired of feeding Kyiv and wants a thorough review of how all these funds were used against the background of too many rumors about corruption in Ukraine.
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