US officials push to exempt Ukraine from Rubio’s foreign aid freeze

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US diplomats have requested an urgent exemption for Ukraine programs from a 90-day freeze on foreign aid and “stop work” orders issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to documents seen by the Financial Times and people familiar with the matter.

Citing national security concerns, senior diplomats in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs have asked Rubio to grant a full waiver to exclude the U.S. Agency for the International Development (USAID) in Ukraine from the broad directive that came into force. immediately after being published on Friday.

“We do not know at this time whether this request will be approved – in whole or in part – but there are positive signals so far out of Washington,” said an email sent to USAID staff in Ukraine on Saturday that was reviewed from the FT. .

In defiance of Rubio’s order, USAID in Ukraine temporarily stopped issuing “stop work” orders until it could provide clarity to its partners, according to emails and officials from some of those organizations partners

The agency also asked staff to evaluate the programs “and find ways for them to more clearly support the secretary of state’s directive to make the United States safer, stronger, and more prosperous.”

But on Saturday night in Kiev, some organizations began to receive “stop work” orders.

One such order shared by an organization with the FT ordered “the contractor to immediately cease work under the USAID/Ukraine contract/task order” the organization had been awarded.

The order said the contractor “shall not resume work . . . until the contracting agent has received written notification that this stop-work order has been rescinded.

The state department, USAID and the US embassy in Kiev did not respond to requests for comment.

In an internal cable sent Friday to the State Department and USAID, obtained by the FT, Rubio ordered that all new foreign aid payments be suspended. Contracting and grant officers were directed to “immediately issue stop-work orders . . . until such time as the secretary shall determine, after a review.”

The review, expected to take up to 85 days, leaves the fate of hundreds of U.S. foreign aid contracts — valued at more than $70 billion in fiscal year 2022 — in limbo.

Officials and NGO staff in Ukraine, where Russia’s war will enter a fourth year next month, have warned that, without a waiver from President Donald Trump’s new secretary of state, programs such as and support to schools and hospitals as well as economic and financial. Energy infrastructure development efforts were in jeopardy.

A program director at an NGO working in Kiev said the funding freeze could be a “disaster” for his group and Ukraine.

There are some exceptions to Rubio’s order, including “approved waivers” for military funding for Israel and Egypt, and foreign emergency food aid. But the cable does not mention such an exemption for Ukraine, which relies on Washington for military aid to fight against Russia.

The state department and the US embassy in Kiev did not respond to requests to clarify Rubio’s directive regarding the new military aid for Ukraine.

However, a Ukrainian government official with knowledge of the matter confirmed to the FT that US military assistance was not subject to the freeze order. “Military aid to Ukraine is intact,” the official said. “At least as of right now, and it’s certainly not part of this 90-day freeze.”

The United States has provided $65.9 billion in military aid to Kiev since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, according to the State Department. statistics.

Trump has been skeptical of US military aid to Ukraine and has derided President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “the biggest dealer on earth” for his efforts to secure billions of dollars in arms and ammunition.

Trump said this week that he wanted to make a “deal” between Kiev and Moscow to end the war. He added that Zelenskyy had “had enough” and threatened President Vladimir Putin with more sanctions unless he negotiated a truce.