The State Council terminates our support for the recovery of Ukrainian energy grid
WASHINGTON – The State Department this week terminated a U.S. international development initiative that has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to help Russian military attacks restore Ukraine’s energy grid, two U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) officials engaged in the agency’s Ukrainian mission.
Due to attacks on energy facilities, some parts of Ukraine have already experienced power outages in certain parts of Ukraine. Throughout the course of the Three Years’ War, the country’s system continued with almost constant impact.
“This greatly weakens the government’s ability to negotiate on a ceasefire and tells Russia that we don’t care about Ukraine or our past investments,” a USAID official involved in the Ukraine mission told NBC News.
The official continued: “Russia is fighting two dominant wars in Ukraine: a military war, but also an economic war. They are working to crush the economy, but the US International Development Agency is helping it have a central role in resilience, [including] Increase the energy grid…We have provided a lot of support to the Ukrainian government to avoid macroeconomic crises. ”
In addition to ending Ukraine’s energy security project, the United States Agency for International Development has greatly reduced its influence in Ukraine.
Before the Trump administration took the latest action, 64 U.S. government employees and contractors served the agency in Ukraine. Only eight people were planned to stay on the ground of war-torn countries after the Trump administration placed administrative leave for the remaining global workforce and ordered those who were not considered “critical” to return to the United States.
Two officials warned that the U.S. International Development exit from Ukraine would allow the winter core to invade its energy grid as it endured further attacks from Russian missiles.
A State Council spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two officials also asserted that the United States Agency for International Development played its most important role in ensuring the financial assistance provided to Ukraine.
The State Department also ordered the end of a plan for “financial sector reform activities,” according to documents obtained by NBC News.
“In the past few years, we will not be paying attention to where this money is going,” one official said.
Two U.S. Agency for International Development said the European-European and Eurasian Bureau oversees Ukrainian missions, which has 115 employees in Washington, D.C.
This article was originally published on nbcnews.com.
