US terminates support for Ukraine energy grid restoration
The US State Department has terminated a program of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) that was responsible for a large-scale effort to restore Ukraine’s energy grid, which has been severely damaged by the Ukraine war.
USAID, Washington’s primary agency for funding political projects abroad, has been facing significant problems since President Donald Trump took office in January.
Shortly after taking office, he imposed a 90-day funding freeze on the agency and transferred its oversight to the State Department.
One of the USAID programs that has been hit hard by Trump’s crackdown is the Energy Security Project (ESP).
The goal of the program has been “to promote broad-based, economic development for Ukraine through the supply of energy.”
According to the reports, on Friday, the State Department has not only stopped the program but also has sharply reduced its activities in Ukraine.
Before the crackdown, 64 US government contractors and employees were in Ukraine as part of the program.
Only eight personnel are allowed to remain; the rest of the USAID personnel will be put on administrative leave and all but “critical” staff must return to the US.
“It significantly undercuts this administration’s abilities to negotiate on the ceasefire, and it’d signal to Russia that we don’t care about Ukraine or our past investments,” a USAID official working on the Ukraine mission said.
In 2024 alone, USAID allocated $825 million to support Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, the State Department said.
The move has come as a meeting between Trump and the Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in the White House turned into an argument when Zelensky made a jab at the Trump administration’s diplomacy.
Trump and his Vice President JD Vance said Zelensky is being ungrateful for the substantial aid provided to Kiev over the past three years.
In response to years of military and political provocations by the US and Western European countries, Russia began its special operations in Ukraine in 2022.
Russia has managed to gain control of a fifth of Ukraine and has been slowly advancing in the east for months.
Ukraine’s military, supported by the US and Western European countries, grapples with manpower shortages and tries to hold onto a chunk of territory in western Russia.
Russia has demanded an end to the West’s military and political provocations on its borders and Ukraine’s permanent neutrality under any peace deal.
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