USAID stops funding the Ukrainian Energy Fund
12 March 2025 22:12
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced the termination of a $75 million grant agreement with the Ukrainian Energy Support Fund.
This was reported by the Energy Community, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The Energy Community Secretariat received this notification on February 27. Now they are waiting for additional clarifications from the American side.
The decision to cancel the financing will reduce the available funds for the purchase of critical equipment for the Ukrainian energy sector.
It is known that the initial agreement for $25 million was signed in April 2023. It was supposed to help provide Ukraine with power and heating equipment, particularly for the winter period. In 2024, USAID allocated another $50 million to expand the support program.
What about USAID funding?
On January 21, 2025, US President Donald Trump decided to suspend all US foreign aid for 90 days. The decision, in particular, concerns economic and humanitarian development programs and projects implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Trump’s decree stated that the directions of the United States’ foreign aid were not in line with American interests and in many cases contradicted American values.
Subsequently, USAID came under the control of the US State Department. Then businessman Elon Musk, whom Trump appointed as head of the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), said he was working to close the agency, which he called a “criminal organization” that “needs to die.”
Already in March, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the cancellation of 83% of USAID programs after a 6-week review. According to him, tens of billions of dollars had been spent to fund these programs “in ways that did not meet (and in some cases even harmed) the core national interests of the United States.”
A few days later, USAID employees were ordered to burn classified documents and personnel files. The memo sent by USAID Acting Executive Secretary Erica Carr did not specify whether the documents had been copied
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised that some of the suspended US support programs would be financed by public funds. And the Verkhovna Rada proposed replacing American aid with European aid.
