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US halts aid to Ukraine for 90 days, Politico and Reuters report

Saturday, 25 January 2025, 00:58
US halts aid to Ukraine for 90 days, Politico and Reuters report
Marco Rubio. Photo: Getty Images

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has issued an order that pauses most foreign aid programmes for 90 days, including assistance to Ukraine. 

Source: Politico, citing the document and sources familiar with the order; Reuters

Details: According to the document Politico obtained, the US Department of State is required to issue "stop-work orders" on nearly all "existing foreign assistance awards." This order is effective immediately and could affect already approved funds, particularly those for military assistance to Ukraine. 

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Quote from Politico: "Secretary of State Marco Rubio halted spending Friday on most existing foreign aid grants for 90 days. The order, which shocked State Department officials, appears to apply to funding for military assistance to Ukraine."

Details: A cable message reviewed by Reuters, drafted by the US Department of State's Foreign Assistance Bureau and approved by Secretary of State Rubio, outlines exceptions for military financing to Israel and Egypt. Reuters notes that no other countries are mentioned in the cable.

Quote from Politico: "One current State Department official, plus two former Biden administration officials, said the pause appears to stop aid to key allies such as Ukraine, Jordan and Taiwan."

Details: A US Agency for International Development (USAID) representative told Reuters that staff managing projects in Ukraine have been directed to suspend all activities. 

"Among the projects that have been frozen are support to schools and health assistance like emergency maternal care and childhood vaccinations," the official said.

"The Pentagon has told me the opposite – that this order does not apply to military assistance… I think they might be referring to the FMF (Foreign Military Financing – ed.) programme. Although, the appropriated funds for assistance to Ukraine have all been spent," stated Ostap Yarysh, a correspondent of Voice of America, on X. 

Former USAID official Jeremy Konyndyk, now president of Refugees International, told Reuters that "if implemented as written in that cable ... a lot of people will die".  

"There's no way to consider this as a good-faith attempt to sincerely review the effectiveness of foreign assistance programming. This is just simply a wrecking ball to break as much stuff as possible," he said.

Background: 

  • US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on 20 January to suspend all foreign aid programmes for 90 days to assess their alignment with the "America First" foreign policy strategy. 
  • The executive order signed by Trump grants Rubio, or a person designated by him, the authority to make such decisions in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget.
  • The Pentagon previously stated that security assistance to Ukraine "is not subject to the recent executive order on foreign aid, as it pertains only to development programmes and not military support".  
  • As a result, Trump’s directive does not affect contracts for weapons production under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) that were signed during Joe Biden’s administration.  
  • Additionally, the directive does not impact the delivery of previously allocated and planned arms shipments from US stockpiles under the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), as announced by Biden.
  • Donald Trump had earlier emphasised that in his efforts to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian war, he "will not abandon Ukraine".

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