US Aid Freeze Puts At Risk Ukraine’s Wartime Help For Frontline Evacuees- wna24

In what used to be this eastern Ukraine town’s concert hall, cots are arranged on the stage and instead of music the room is filled with the muffled sobs of local people driven from their homes by fighting in the country’s almost three-year war with Russia.

The Russian army’s recent advances have engulfed towns and villages in the area.

The Pavlohrad concert hall was requisitioned as a temporary center for local civilians fleeing the relentless Russian bombardment.

“It’s good here. There’s food, warmth, and a place to wash,” said 83-year-old Kateryna Odraha, who lived through the German occupation of her village during World War II.

But that refuge may now be in peril.

The shelter for evacuees costs the equivalent of $7,000 a month to run, and 60% of that was being covered by U.S. funds sent to help Ukraine.

President Donald Trump’s decision last month to freeze for 90 days the humanitarian aid that the United States provides to countries overseas was felt in places far from Washington, including here, a few miles from the Ukrainian front line.

Trump’s decision immediately halted thousands of U.S.-funded humanitarian, development, and security programs, and the consequences have rippled across the world.

“This is critical because there will be fewer people who can help,” said Illia Novikov, the coordinator of the Pavlohrad transit center, which is run by the charity organization Relief Coordination Center.

The U.S. funding covered fuel for evacuation vehicles, salaries for aid workers, legal and psychological support, and tickets to help evacuees reach safer locations, he said.

Usually, about 60 people pass through the shelter each day but when the Russian bombardment worsens that can climb to more than 200, according to Novikov.

Many people heading here have spent months living in their basement without electricity, running water or enough food.

Across Ukraine, many other sectors are reeling from the aid freeze, which places additional strain on Ukraine’s stretched wartime finances.

Energy projects, veteran support programs, psychological helplines, cybersecurity, healthcare, independent media, and even border infrastructure projects have been affected. The aid was intended to help cushion the war’s impact.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his government expects $300-400 million in aid to be cut. Most of that was for the energy sector that has been targeted by Russia.

Ukraine hopes to make up the shortfall from European sources of aid or internal ones, Zelenskyy said.

U.S. military aid has not been frozen, according to Zelenskyy, but Ukraine has received only about 42% of the money approved by Congress.