Donald Trump’s USAID cuts damaging humanitarian operations on Ukraine’s front line
Oleksiy Kliuiev has had to get used to working under fire. He leads a group of volunteers helping civilians caught in the fighting on Ukraine’s frontline.
Last September, he and his team were nearly hit in a drone strike as they rushed to help residents under bombardment in the Sumy region, close to Ukraine’s northeastern border with Russia.
“By the time we volunteers arrived, there had already been two hits on the hospital by Shahed drones,” Mr Kliuiev, who filmed the strike, tells Sky News.
With the air-raid warning still sounding, he sought shelter in a neighbouring building.
“When we came out, we saw a horrible picture. There were bodies everywhere – wounded or killed. Cars were on fire. Everything was burning.”
A total of 11 people were killed in the attack.
Mr Kliuiev has been working on the frontline of Ukraine’s war since 2022.
In recent days, this border region has become the focal point of Russia’s war effort, as the Kremlin tries to take control and cut off supplies to the Ukrainian military.
Under Russian assault, support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had been more essential than ever.
Oleksiy Kliuiev runs the Sumy branch of volunteer organisation Dobrobat
“Sumy is under shelling all the time. It’s under attack from drones, from ballistic missiles, from supersonic missiles,” Mr Kliuiev says.
“It is probably the hardest moment since 2022, because even back in 2022, when we had convoys of occupiers marching through our city, the scale of destruction was not what we are seeing now.”
Russian forces are approaching Sumy from Kursk Oblast
Mr Kliuiev heads up the Sumy branch of Dobrobat, a volunteer organisation that helps civilians and does urgent reconstruction in areas hit by Russian shelling.
He and his team are aware of the risks. “Ours is a rescue mission,” he says. “So, every time we go to such scenes, we go to help people.”
Last year, Dobrobat received 2 million Ukrainian hryvnia, worth around £38,000, from USAID towards building repair projects. It was supposed to be the first in a series of ongoing payments.
Instead, USAID’s funding was frozen by US President Donald Trump on his first day in office.
Mr Kliuiev sent Sky News a video he took this week of apartment blocks in Sumy, with boarded-up windows that his group had planned to replace using USAID funding.
On Monday, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said in a statement on X that 83% of contracts funded by USAID would be cancelled.
In a war where equipment like drones and tanks are talked about most, unassuming items are also essential – ladders, construction foam and tools for repairing the damage.
The aid freeze has had an immediate impact on Dobrobat’s work.
“We haven’t been able to install window units as quickly. Residents have been living through a very harsh winter with temperatures of 15C below freezing,” Mr Kliuiev says.
USAID provided billions worldwide
USAID gave $32bn in aid to 165 countries in 2024. Ukraine was by far the top recipient country, receiving $5.4bn.
Mr Kliuiev is one of thousands of Ukrainians working on projects funded by USAID near the frontlines, many of whom have spoken to Sky News.
“Unfortunately, due to the suspension of USAID funding, more than half of our projects were stopped,” says Yuriy Antoshchuk, co-founder of Unity Foundation, a group working to rebuild communities in Kherson.
“The population’s faith in the fact that there is a reliable partner who is not only ready to help resist Russian aggression, but also will support in the restoration and help rebuild a democratic society, is fading every day.”
The impact of the cuts on the ground is immense but programme organisers have been working in a state of confusion too.
They are having to untangle a complicated web of projects affecting many different areas of work in Ukraine, from subsidising school employee salaries to assisting internally displaced people.
“I am in the process of terminating nearly 100 staff. People who have worked tirelessly to serve the frontlines of Russia’s war against Ukraine,” a senior American aid worker in Ukraine, whose work was funded by USAID, tells Sky News.
“I never thought I would see the day when the American government would be both reckless and dishonest at this magnitude.
“The shame I feel as an American is completely overwhelming.”
Job losses
According to an analysis by Molloy Consultants, a global health consultancy tracking aid job losses, over 14,000 Americans have been made redundant so far. They expect that number to rise to 52,000.
Almost 60,000 non-Americans have also lost their jobs, with the figure expected to rise to more than 100,000.
Most USAID funding is managed through a series of US-based intermediary companies. Since 2005, a quarter has gone via one firm, Chemonics.
It is now one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the US government, seeking payment for outstanding work that has already been done. In an initial court filing, the company said it was owed $110.3m in outstanding invoices for work performed in 2024.
A judge had ordered the invoices to be paid by 10 March, but a source familiar with USAID’s programmes told Sky News only a small fraction of this had been given to Chemonics before the deadline – about $6m.
Sky News asked the State Department when it planned to pay, but it declined to comment on the ongoing legal dispute.
Without funding from USAID, Chemonics is unable to pay local contractors and staff. The company has taken drastic cost-cutting measures, including laying off many of their staff both in the US and abroad, the source familiar with USAID’s programmes told Sky News.
Chemonics received the most USAID funding for Ukraine contracts.
Ropack, an equipment company in Odessa, is one of the vendors owed money.
“Since 2022, despite fear, panic, and uncertainty, we have kept working because we knew if we stopped, factories that cannot afford to stop would grind to a halt,” said Oksana Chumachenko, the company’s director, in a letter to Sky News.
“We keep going even when Shahed drones rain down at night, and in the morning – if we are lucky and another substation has not been bombed – we drink our coffee, thank God we are still alive, and get back to work.
“But sometimes, we hit a dead end.” Now, with USAID money coming to a halt, “today is one of those days,” she says.
“We fully acknowledge that this is a sovereign decision by the US administration, and we do not question it. But we ask – we plead – that commitments already made under existing contracts be fulfilled.”
The frustration was also palpable in an interview Sky News conducted with a senior American aid worker in Ukraine, who spoke under the condition of anonymity.
“You do not stop paying your bills because you don’t like what the person before you approved,” they said.
“I have vendors who have not been paid for generators they delivered and installed so frontline communities in Ukraine have access to water, light, and heat.
“These suppliers are going to need to go back to these communities and remove this lifesaving equipment – take it back – because a few decision makers in [Washington] DC did not spend the time or energy to understand the whole picture.”
Examples of vital USAID-funded projects on Ukraine’s frontline range from underground schools in Kharkiv to transit centres for evacuees in Pavlohrad.
Andrew Mitchell, a former foreign office minister, says the impact of the USAID cuts is wide-ranging.
“If you want to tackle things like migration, climate change, pandemics, you need to do it on an international basis,” he says.
“If you have a situation like you have today in Ukraine, the scale of human needs, the scale of humanitarian resource and help that is required is immense,” he adds.
“I’m afraid the result of these cuts will be going backwards and not forwards in the way that we had hoped.”
Back in Sumy, USAID cuts have delivered a significant hit to Mr Kliuiev’s operations. But he says this is not the end for Dobrobat.
“We will continue our work because we’ve been around since 2022. But the support from USAID was a step forward for us that now won’t happen.”
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US President Donald Trump is putting “heavy” pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza, two sources close to the ceasefire negotiations have told Sky News.
One US source said: “The US pressure on Israel has begun, and tonight it will be heavy.”
The source, who is not authorised to speak publicly, was referring to the White House dinner on Monday night between Trump and Netanyahu.
A second Middle Eastern diplomatic source agreed that the American pressure on Israel would be intense.
Benjamin Netanyahu gave Donald Trump a letter saying he had nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize. Pic: AP
Netanyahu arrived in Washington DC in the early hours of Monday morning and held meetings on Monday with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and national security adviser.
The Israeli prime minister plans to be in Washington until Thursday with meetings on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
Trump has made clear his desire to bring the Gaza conflict to an end.
However, he has never articulated how a lasting peace, which would satisfy both the Israelis and Palestinians, could be achieved.
His varying comments about ownership of Gaza, moving Palestinians out of the territory and permanent resettlement, have presented a confusing policy.
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‘Israel has shifted towards economy of genocide’
Situation for Palestinians worse than ever
Over the coming days, we will see the extent to which Trump demands that Netanyahu accepts the current Gaza ceasefire deal, even if it falls short of Israel’s war aims – the elimination of Hamas.
The strategic objective to permanently remove Hamas seems always to have been impossible. Hamas as an entity was the extreme consequence of the Israeli occupation.
The Palestinians’ challenge has not gone away, and the situation for Palestinians now is worse than it has ever been in Gaza and also the West Bank. It is not clear how Trump plans to square that circle.
Read more:
Explainer – What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal?
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
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‘Some Israeli commanders can decide to do war crimes’
Trump’s oft-repeated desire to “stop the killing” is sincere. Those close to him often emphasise this. He is also looking to cement his legacy as a peacemaker. He genuinely craves the Nobel Peace Prize.
In this context, the complexities of conflicts – in Ukraine or Gaza – are often of secondary importance to the president.
If Netanyahu can be persuaded to end the war, what would he need?
The hostages back – for sure. That would require agreement from Hamas. They would only agree to this if they have guarantees on Gaza’s future and their own future. More circles to square.
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Trump 100: We answer your questions
Was White House dinner a key moment?
The Monday night dinner could have been a key moment for the Middle East. Two powerful men in the Blue Room of the White House, deciding the direction of the region.
Will it be seen as the moment the region was remoulded? But to whose benefit?
Trump is a dealmaker with an eye on the prize. But Netanyahu is a political master; they don’t call him “the magician” for nothing.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Trump makes decisions instinctively. He can shift position quickly and often listens to the last person in the room. Right now – that person is Netanyahu.
Gaza is one part of a jigsaw of challenges, which could become opportunities.
Diplomatic normalisation between Israel and the Arab world is a prize for Trump and could genuinely secure him the Nobel Peace Prize.
But without the Gaza piece, the jigsaw is incomplete.
World
IDF presence in Gaza ‘only issue’ still to be resolved in push for Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Sky News understands
Only one issue remains unresolved in the push to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, according to Sky sources.
Intense negotiations are taking place in Qatar in parallel with key talks in Washington between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Two sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations have told Sky News that disagreement between Israel and Hamas remains on the status and presence of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza.
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Gaza ceasefire deal in progress
The two sides have bridged significant differences on several other issues, including the process of delivering humanitarian aid and Hamas’s demand that the US guarantees to ensure Israel doesn’t unilaterally resume the war when the ceasefire expires in 60 days.
On the issue of humanitarian aid, Sky News understands that a third party that neither Hamas nor Israel has control over will be used in areas from which the IDF withdraws.
Benjamin Netanyahu briefed reporters on Capitol Hill about the talks on Tuesday. Pic: AP
This means that the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – jointly run by an American organisation and Israel – will not be able to operate anywhere where the IDF is not deployed. It will limit GHF expansion plans.
It is believed the United Nations or other recognised humanitarian organisations will adopt a greater role.
On the issue of a US guarantee to prevent Israel restarting the war, Sky News understands that a message was passed to Hamas by Dr Bishara Bahbah, a Palestinian American who has emerged as a key back channel in the negotiations.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Read more from Sky News:
Trump puts pressure on Netanyahu
Netanyahu backs Trump for peace prize
Potential Gaza deal explained
The message appears to have been enough to convince Hamas that President Trump will prevent Israel from restarting the conflict.
However, there is no sense from any of the developments over the course of the past day about what the future of Gaza looks like longer-term.
Final challenge is huge
The last remaining disagreement is, predictably, the trickiest to bridge.
Israel’s central war aim, beyond the return of the hostages, is the total elimination of Hamas as a military and political organisation. The withdrawal of the IDF, partial or total, could allow Hamas to regroup.
One way to overcome this would be to provide wider guarantees of clear deliverable pathways to a viable future for Palestinians.
But there is no sense from the negotiations of any longer-term commitments on this issue.
Two key blocks have been resolved over the past 24 hours but the final challenge is huge.
The conflict in Gaza erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Some 20 hostages are believed to remain alive in Gaza.
Israel has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
World
‘Widespread sexual violence’ took place during Hamas’s 7 October attacks, report by Israeli experts says
A newly released report led by Israeli legal and gender experts presents detailed evidence alleging “widespread and systematic” sexual violence during the Hamas-led terror attack on 7 October.
Warning: This story contains descriptions of rape and sexual violence
The findings, published by the Dinah Project, argue that these acts amount to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), and assert that “Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon of war”.
The report draws on 18 months of investigation and is based on survivor testimonies, eyewitness accounts, and interviews with first responders, morgue personnel and healthcare professionals.
According to the Dinah Project, the documented patterns – such as forced nudity, gang rapes, genital mutilation, and threats of forced marriage – indicate a deliberate and coordinated use of sexual violence by Hamas operatives during the attack.
Reported incidents span at least six locations, including the Nova music festival, and several kibbutzim in southern Israel.
A destroyed car near the police station in Sderot, following the 7 October attacks by Hamas. Pic: AP
One section of the report describes victims “found fully or partially naked from the waist down, with their hands tied behind their backs and/or to structures such as trees and poles, and shot”.
At the Nova music festival and surrounding areas, the investigators found “reasonable grounds to believe” that multiple women were raped or gang-raped before being killed.
The report’s findings are consistent with earlier investigations by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Read more:
What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal?
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
The UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict previously concluded that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” CRSV took place during the attack.
Destroyed vehicles near the grounds of the Supernova electronic music festival. Pic: AP
Significantly, the Dinah Project urges the international community to officially recognise the use of sexual violence by Hamas as a deliberate strategy of war and calls on the United Nations to add Hamas to its list of parties responsible for conflict-related sexual violence.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The nature and scale of sexual violence on 7 October have been a subject of intense controversy, with some accusing parties of weaponising the narrative for political ends.
This report seeks to confront what its authors call “denial, misinformation, and global silence,” and to provide justice for the victims.
Hamas has denied that its fighters have used sexual violence and mistreated female hostages.
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