War

One thousand sixty-seventh day. The United States has stopped assistance programs to Ukraine in the fields of energy, education and medicine. And they stopped accepting Ukrainian refugees

Since February 24, 2022, Meduza has been broadcasting live about the Russian-Ukrainian war. In our daily materials, we dwell in detail on several stories that are affecting the course of the war right now. We also publish your letters because we are sure that we need to continue talking about the war. Please share your opinion about Russians who voluntarily enter into contracts with the Ministry of Defense, and if you know such people, tell us about them and their motives. Find the feedback form at the end of this article. You can read the previous day's review here .

World

The administration of US President Donald Trump has begun to suspend many programs launched by the previous administration to help Ukraine

The US State Department on January 24 suspended all existing foreign aid programs to other countries, including Ukraine, Politico and Reuters reported. This decision was made after Trump, immediately after taking office on January 20, suspended all aid programs to other countries for 90 days until they were reviewed for compliance with US foreign policy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will decide which programs will be extended, modified or eliminated during a review that will last the next 85 days. At the same time, Rubio may already make an exception for some programs. The grant freeze did not affect Israel and Egypt.

Employees of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), who were responsible for projects in Ukraine, were ordered to stop all work, a Reuters source told the agency. According to the source, projects to support schools and in the health sector, for example, emergency assistance to mothers and vaccination of children, have been frozen. Other USAID programs in Ukraine include energy support and infrastructure restoration, noted Ostap Yarysh, correspondent for the Ukrainian service of the Voice of America.

Politico writes that the State Department's decision likely affects the funding of military aid to Ukraine. The freeze on grants applies to the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, said Voice of America correspondent Ostap Yarysh. At the same time, according to him, this decision does not apply to the two main programs PDA and USAI , “for which the production and supply of weapons for Ukraine is still ongoing.”

The head of the Center for Combating Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Andrei Kovalenko, against the backdrop of media reports, said on January 25 that “US military assistance to Ukraine continues, in particular, according to the military assistance packages that were adopted earlier.”

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, commenting on media reports, said that he is aware of the “limitations of humanitarian programs,” but, according to him, the United States continues to provide military assistance to Ukraine. “I am focused on military assistance, it has not stopped. God bless!" - said Zelensky (quote from UNIAN ).

The US is the world's largest aid donor. In 2024 alone, Washington has committed $72 billion in vital aid to other countries. In 2025, in addition to Ukraine, 16 more countries applied for funding from the United States. Rubio's decision is "man-made chaos," a former senior USAID official told Reuters. U.S. officials have “moved toward nuclear weapons in foreign aid,” a current State Department official told Politico.

At the same time, USCIS, a division of the US Department of Homeland Security, suspended a number of programs that allow migrants to temporarily reside in the United States, including a key initiative aimed at helping Ukrainians. This was reported by The New York Times, citing an email sent to USCIS employees on January 23. A service representative confirmed the authenticity of the letter.

Agency officials were directed to immediately make “final decisions” on applications related to the programs while the administration decides whether to end them. Donald Trump considers many programs illegal, the presidential administration says.

The department's decision affects the Uniting for Ukraine program, which allowed Ukrainians to enter the United States with temporary status if they had financial sponsors. According to American authorities, cited by The New York Times, by September 2023, more than 150 thousand Ukrainians had entered the United States under the program launched under the 46th US President Joe Biden.

The Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on the decision to suspend the Uniting for Ukraine program.

War through the eyes of Meduza readers

Olga. My sister’s husband signed a contract from a pre-trial detention center with Wagner PMC when he was facing ten years under Article 228 . They promised him that if he remained alive, he would return home in six months - plus with clean documents, without a criminal record. His logic was simple: I’d rather take a risk, suffer for six months and start life from scratch, than sit for ten years and be left without a family (they had a wedding a year before, and he realized that no one would wait for him). Plus, in his absence and in the event of his death, he will provide for his wife financially. I decided to play Russian roulette.

Within six months, he rose to the rank of company commander; according to his stories, he knew [PMC commander Dmitry] Utkin, killed (killed - Meduza's note) his colleagues, and took part in the campaign against Moscow. In the end, I was lucky and returned with a shrapnel wound, PTSD, and a free man. The speech contains words such as “dill”, “Natsik”, “NATO” and so on. The police clearly did not expect his return, since the evidence [from the old criminal case] was partially returned. Now my son was born, he opened a small bar, where at the entrance there is a foot mat with a US flag. He wakes up at night from nightmares and goes to see a psychotherapist.

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