Zelenskyy Calls for Report on US Support Programs Following Trump’s Suspension of Foreign Aid for 90 Days
The Ukrainian government will determine which programs are critical and require immediate solutions, Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Jan. 28 that he has instructed his government to report on U.S. support programs whose funds have been suspended for 90 days under the Trump administration.
Oleksii Kuleba, deputy prime minister for Ukraine’s reconstruction and minister of community and territorial development, is working with other government officials to identify which specific programs are currently in short supply, Zelenskyy said.
He added that “almost all of them” were not channeled through the Ukrainian government but instead “directly through our communities, through various organizations.”
“There are many projects,” Zelenskyy said. “We will determine which ones are critical and need immediate solutions.”
Zelenskyy stated that the Ukrainian government can provide part of the necessary funding needed for the programs through state finances and “will discuss some of them with Europeans and Americans.”
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This applies to programs that support various initiatives, from communications and digitalization to support for veterans, schools, hospitals, and reconstruction, Zelenskyy said.
He noted that key programs requiring funding are those focused on Ukrainian children, veterans, and the protection of infrastructure.
“We will certainly support priority things,” Zelenskyy said.
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In a statement announcing Trump’s decision, the White House said “all department and agency heads with responsibility for United States foreign development assistance programs must immediately pause new obligations and disbursements of development assistance funds.”
The order was issued, according to the statement, because the U.S. foreign aid industry and bureaucracy “are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values.”
“They serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries,” the White House statement said.
The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development are the main agencies that oversee foreign assistance.
According to the statement, funding for certain foreign aid programs may resume before the 90-day period has ended if a review is conducted, and if Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in consultation with the director of the Office of Management and Budget, decides to continue the program in “the same or modified form.”
The freeze does not apply to military assistance for Ukraine, Zelenskyy told a press conference on Jan. 25.
In the wake of Trump’s order, some humanitarian organizations and U.N. agencies have raised concerns that a permanent freeze on foreign aid could drastically impact their ability to distribute food, shelter, and health care.
Other organizations are already feeling the effects of the short-term pause on funding, however. The Freeland Foundation, an environmental conservation and human rights group in Bangkok, is now seeking donations from members of the public to help it continue operating through the 90-day freeze.
Despite growing concerns, some of the biggest recipients of U.S. assistance, such as Israel, which gets $3.3 billion per year; Egypt, which gets $1.5 billion per year; and Jordan, which receives $1.7 billion per year, are unlikely to see dramatic reductions in funding.
Funding for those nations is already included in long-term packages dating back decades and is in some cases governed by treaty obligations.
Jack Phillips, Reuters, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
