First move comes: KAS breaks US support for restoration of Ukraine's power grid

The State Department discussed this week an initiative by the American Agency for International Development, which has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to help restore Ukraine's power grid from Russian Army attacks, according to two U officials. AID working on the agency's mission to Ukraine.

Power cuts have been made overnight in several regions of Ukraine because of attacks on power facilities. The country's systems have had almost constant impact throughout the course of the three-year war.

This would significantly reduce the capabilities of this administration to negotiate the ceasefire and signal Russia that we don't care about our past Ukraine or investments”, said one official of the USAID included in Ukraine mission for NBC News.

The official continued: “Russia is fighting a two-way war in Ukraine -- military but economic one. They're trying to crush the economy, but U n AID has played a central role to help it be flexible, [including] strengthening the power grid ... We have provided great support to the Ukrainian government to avoid a macroeconomic crisis”.

Besides completing the Ukraine Energy Security Project, USAID is also dramatically reducing its presence in Ukraine.

Before the latest movements of the Trump administration, 64 US government employees and contractors were serving on the ground in Ukraine for the agency.

Only eight of those personnel are scheduled to stand on the ground in the war-torn country after the Trump administration established its remaining global power of work on administrative leave and ordered those workers who were not considered <x0-cricics” to return to the US.

The two officials warned that USAID's withdrawal from Ukraine would leave its energy network vulnerable to the heart of winter, as it endures attacks by further Russian missiles. /AlbananaPost