One of the first actions taken by President Donald Trump after assuming office was to suspend aid to any other countries and organizations. In light of this, a question arises: does this pose a threat to Ukraine, which has received $66.5 billion in military aid from the U.S. since 2022?
The order titled Reevaluating And Realigning United States Foreign Aid explicitly states that all government departments and agencies responsible for U.S. development assistance programs must suspend new commitments and payments on existing ones for a period of 90 days.
Decisions regarding the resumption of payments will be made only after an audit of the programs to ensure they align with U.S. interests, and their fate will depend on the Secretary of State’s decision (the head of the U.S. Department of State).
U.S. development assistance programs are a distinct type of aid that pertains to supporting the economic, social, and political development of states and societies. In U.S. government terminology, aid to Ukraine in the form of military support has been categorized as security assistance, which, based on all indications, is not affected by Trump's order.
This means that, formally, Trump's order does not directly impact military aid to Ukraine. However, it could potentially affect other types of assistance. This includes aid that Ukraine receives through USAID, particularly for the restoration of damaged infrastructure.
At the same time, the situation regarding American aid to Ukraine is currently uncertain overall. The Biden administration has yet to secure all the funds that were planned for the 2024 fiscal year.
Under the PDA program, which involves presidential drawdown where weapons are supplied from stockpiles, the last package was announced on January 9. After that, the program had $1.05 billion remaining for 2024 and an additional $2.8 billion returned due to a financial error. Funds from the USAI program, which involves ordering weapons from manufacturers, were fully utilized as of December 30.
However, the main issue lies not in the fact that there are still funds in the PDA account, but rather that there is no approved budget for the U.S. fiscal year 2025 (which began on October 1, 2024). And in its draft, there is no mention of aid to Ukraine in the form of military assistance.