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Today's Topics:
1. State Department terminates U.S. support of Ukraine energy
grid restoration (Stephen Loosley)
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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 03 Mar 2025 21:39:06 +1030
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "link" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] State Department terminates U.S. support of Ukraine
energy grid restoration
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
State Department terminates U.S. support of Ukraine energy grid restoration
The USAID initiative had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in helping
Ukraine's energy grid recover from attacks from Russia.
[Photo caption: Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
at the White House on Friday.Andrew Harnik / Getty Images]
By Vaughn Hillyard March 1, 2025, 6:36 AM GMT+11
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/state-department-terminates-us-support-ukraine-energy-grid-restoration-rcna194259
WASHINGTON ? The State Department this week terminated a U.S. Agency for
International Development initiative that has invested hundreds of millions of
dollars to help restore Ukraine's energy grid from attacks by the Russian
military, according to two USAID officials working on the agency?s Ukraine
mission.
Power outages have been applied overnight in some regions of Ukraine due to the
attacks on energy facilities. The country?s systems have sustained
near-constant impact throughout the course of the three-year war.
?It significantly undercuts this administration?s abilities to negotiate on the
ceasefire, and it?d signal to Russia that we don?t care about Ukraine or our
past investments,? one USAID official involved in the Ukraine mission told NBC
News.
[Zelenskyy's meeting with Trump unravels into heated exchange 03:05]
The official continued: ?Russia is fighting a two-pronged war in Ukraine: A
military one but also an economic one. They?re trying to crush the economy, but
USAID has played a central role in helping it be resilient, [including] shoring
up the energy grid?We?ve provided vast amount of support to the Ukrainian
government to avoid a macro economic crisis.?
In addition to ending the Ukraine Energy Security Project, USAID is also
dramatically downsizing its presence in Ukraine.
Before the Trump administration?s latest moves, 64 American government
employees and contractors were serving on the ground in Ukraine for the agency.
Just eight of those personnel are slated to remain on the ground in the
war-torn country after the Trump administration placed its remaining global
workforce on administrative leave and ordered those workers not deemed
?critical? to return to the U.S.
The two officials warned that USAID withdrawing from Ukraine would leave its
energy grid vulnerable in the heart of the winter as it endures assaults from
further Russian missiles.
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[War in Ukraine Zelenskyy says U.S.-Ukraine relationship can be salvaged]
A State Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Both officials also asserted that USAID plays the foremost role in ensuring
financial aid provided to Ukraine is spent for its intended purposes.
Based on a document obtained by NBC News, the State Department has also ordered
the termination of a program focused on ?financial sector reform activity.?
?We won?t have the eyes on where this money has gone over the last few years,?
one of the officials said.
USAID?s Bureau for Europe and Eurasia, which oversees the Ukraine mission, has
115 staff based in Washington, D.C. The bureau?s staff has been told that
number would be pared down to 29 employees remaining active, according to the
two USAID officials.
Vaughn Hillyard
Vaughn Hillyard is a correspondent for NBC News.
Daryna Mayer contributed.
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