Trump’s aid freeze leaves weapons flowing to Ukraine

KYIV — In one of his first acts as president, Donald Trump froze all foreign aid for 90 days, but Kyiv may dodge the worst of that action, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday.

“In terms of budget funding, we’re secured. [Former President Joe] Biden’s administration transferred all the funds under the ERA initiative [$50 billion] to the World Bank,” Roksolana Pidlasa, head of the budget committee in the Ukrainian parliament, told POLITICO.

Ukraine’s military aid will also not be affected as Trump’s executive order applies to international assistance under the “development programs” of United Nations agencies, peacekeeping initiatives and refugee support programs, the Ukrainian State Disinformation Countering Center said in a statement Tuesday.

“Ukraine receives assistance from the United States under the Presidential Drawdown (PDA), Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), and Foreign Military Financing (FMF) programs. The executive order does not apply to these programs,” the center added.

However, Ukraine’s United States Agency for International Development reconstruction programs seem to be in limbo.

The executive order Trump signed Monday does not specify which kind of U.S. foreign aid programs will be frozen.

“The United States 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 order said.

It added that all department and agency heads with responsibility for foreign development assistance programs have to “immediately pause new obligations and disbursements” for 90 days while the aid is reviewed for an “assessment of programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy.”

Trump’s order seems to be mainly aimed at programs run by USAID, responsible for handing out $22 billion in civilian and development aid.

That also harms Ukraine as it includes initiatives like restoring bombed energy facilities and demining, said Maksym Samoiliuk, a monetary and fiscal policy expert at the Centre for Economic Strategy, a Kyiv-based think tank.

USAID also finances Ukrainian civil society and independent journalists.

“The question is how exactly this decree will be implemented and whether the previous Biden administration was preparing for such a development and did not transfer funds in advance, for example,” Samoiliuk said.

A spokesperson for USAID declined to comment.

The order’s text says the pause will be enforced by the Office of Management and Budget, but Trump’s nominee to run the office, Russell T. Vought, has not yet been approved by the Senate.

During hearings in the Senate, he refused to directly answer on whether he would release any new military aid to Ukraine, saying he only follows the law.

The U.S. is the No. 1 donor of civilian and military aid to Ukraine, although Europe taken together gives more.

Trump has repeatedly criticized U.S. aid to Ukraine, claiming Europe should pay more and calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “the greatest salesman.”

Before leaving office, Biden ramped up military aid to Kyiv.