American foreign aid freezes Ukraine

President Donald Trump's decision to freeze most American aid to foreign countries has placed Ukrainian organisations offering humanitarian aid and other services in a difficult position. As American Voice reporters report, Myroslava Gongadze from Warsaw and Anna Chernikova from Kiev, the Ukrainian government, civil society and the media depend mainly on foreign aid.

The Veterans Centre offers psychological and social support to war veterans in Ukraine and their families. Directors say the order of President Trump's administration to freeze aid for foreign countries forced them to close office in the town of Winntissia. The central office in Kiev continues to operate thanks to private donors.

Yvonne Costina leads the Veterans Center. She tells Voice of America that freezing funds from Washington was unexpected and hit hard on the project.

“Ending funds means cutting off our operations. It means stopping salaries and getting people back to work”.

Immediately after returning to the White House, President Trump ordered a 90-day freeze to reevaluate American aid to foreign countries. The White House did not respond to a request by the Voice of America to comment on the help of Ukraine.

A State Department statement on freezing funds says: “The United States will no longer provide funds that do not benefit the American people”.

The freezing of US funds shocked humanitarian organisations in Ukraine. After three years of war, the Ukrainian government, civil society and the media depend mainly on foreign aid.

Ukrainian Boydan Logvynenko, founder of the independent multimedia project “Ukrainer”, tells the Voice of America that most funds for the project came from American aid programmes.

“We are cutting off employees and reducing the level of work as there were some programs that supported us simultaneously”.

He says freezing American funds goes beyond independent media.

“The edit is too high. Media aid is a waterdrop in the ocean. Economic support has a major impact, and the suspension strengthens Russia's” position.

The US relief agency says it has sent Ukraine more than $7.6 billion in humanitarian and economic aid since the beginning of the war.

Denys Bihus, with the investigative media project “Bihus.info”, says the American aid cuts would harm the public sector. Its organization is concerned about the fate of state programmes that relied mainly on these funds.

Our main “is the state of Ukraine, represented by local communities or directly by the state utility”.

Analyst Doug Klein says most American aid was intended to keep the Ukrainian government and society strong, as well as government accountability programs.

Mr. Klein believes that activating programmes would strengthen the policies of President Trump's administration and create a stronger Ukraine.

“Trumpi seeks to force Putin to end the invasion of Ukraine and aims to achieve what he calls peace through force. A strong Ukraine that can maneuver is the key to this”.

Meanwhile, President Voldymyr Zelensky instructed the government to prioritize the most critical programmes based on American funds and cover their needs through national budget or alternative sources from foreign aid. / VOA/