In a sweeping order, the newly sworn in Donald Trump administration reportedly froze all foreign aid, including that to Ukraine, with exceptions only for Israel and Egypt. The move comes after President Donald Trump ordered a full review of all foreign assistance.
In an internal memo, cited in the report, the new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “No new funds shall be obligated for new awards or extensions of existing awards until each proposed new award or extension has been reviewed and approved.”
Rubio has also instructed diplomatic and consular posts to issue “stop-work orders” on nearly all “existing foreign assistance awards,” Politico said, citing an internal document.
According to Politico, the order has “shocked” State Department officials and appears to apply to funding for military assistance to Ukraine.
The move is in line with US President Donald Trump’s vow of an “America First” policy of tightly restricting assistance overseas.
The order is expected to affect everything from development assistance to military aid — including to Ukraine, which received billions of dollars in weapons and aid under previous President Joe Biden.
The newly inaugurated President Donald Trump, has ordered a 90-day suspension of all “foreign development assistance for assessment of programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy.”
The US has provided nearly $66 billion in military aid to Ukraine since February 2022, according to the Pentagon.
During his entire campaign Trump has stressed on the fact that the US resources are being wasted and given away to foreign nations for pointless clashes. He had promised to cut down on such expenses and work towards finding a solution to the Russia Ukraine clash.
Peace Deal
As soon as he took office Trump took to social media to announce a peace proposal for Vladimir Putin’s Russia. He also called the anti Russia media rhetoric a hoax and praised the Russian people while also recounting their contributions in the second world war.
US President Donald Trump maintains the view that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should not have made the situation a war scenario. “Zelenskyy was fighting a much bigger entity, much bigger, much more powerful,” Trump said, emphasising that Russia’s superior military might made resistance futile. “He shouldn’t have done that, because we could have made a deal”.
Trump’s stance on the conflict is rooted in his belief that Zelenskyy should have negotiated a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to avoid the war. “I could have made that deal so easily, and Zelenskyy decided that ‘I want to fight.”
Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin has called Trump a “smart and pragmatic man” and has asserted that he is ready to negotiate a peace proposal with the US which also adresses the basic security concerns of Russia vis a vis Ukraine and Eastern Europe.
The Russia-Ukraine war that began in February 2022 will soon enter its fourth year. The devastating consequences of the clash has led to the death of thousands of soldiers and civilians on both sides, while draining the resources of Europe as well as the US to continue the war. Trump is looking to put a final stop to the pointless clash that had been funded so heavily by the Democrats leader and previous President Joe Biden.
