Attachments
OVERVIEW
On 10 March 2025, the US Government announced its cancellation of more than 80% of all United States Agency for International Development (USAID) programmes globally. The announcement came only seven weeks into the 90-day pause and foreign aid review announced by executive order on 20 January 2025 (Reuters 10/03/2025; WH 20/01/2025).
US-funded aid, including humanitarian, development, and stabilisation assistance, was paused on 24 January, when the new US administration began sending stop-work orders (SWOs) to foreign aid recipients, including Ukrainian central and local governments, UN organisations, INGOs, national NGOs (NNGOs), and civil society organisations (CSOs), ordering them to suspend all US-funded activities (OSW 27/01/2025). A waiver ‘for lifesaving humanitarian assistance’ was announced on 28 January for some programme categories – including core lifesaving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance, as well as supplies and reasonable administrative costs to deliver such assistance – but has been ineffectively implemented and communicated (US DOS 28/01/2025). Some organisations already started receiving termination notices in late February. Some limited projects received notices that allowed them to continue working in late March (KII 25/02/2025; IRC 27/02/2025).
Ukraine has been among the top recipients of US foreign assistance since 2022, with overall support for the country’s humanitarian, development, and government sectors (excluding military assistance) reaching more than USD 38 billion (FTS accessed 11/03/2025; OIG 12/02/2025; ISAR Ednannia unpublished). The suspension of US foreign aid has had a sudden and disruptive impact on both the operational and programmatic aspects of humanitarian, development, and governance work in Ukraine. Most of this funding was committed through USAID, which has been present in Ukraine since 1992 and increased its support after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. USAID provided critical assistance and support to the Ukrainian Government, allowing it to continue operations and provide public services. In addition, USAID-funded humanitarian programmes kept people safe and alive, while development and stabilisation aid has continued to fund an independent and free media, key infrastructure projects, and (to some degree) Ukraine’s agricultural capacities (Kyiv Independent 31/01/2025). The implications of the funding cuts on humanitarian, development, and government programmes are closely intertwined. With the majority of this funding now at risk, the impact of the suspension and cuts to US foreign assistance will likely generate critical gaps in service provision, which will translate into affected communities’ increasingly unmet basic needs, threatening both immediate humanitarian outcomes and the longer-term safety and wellbeing of millions of Ukrainians.