USAID suspends all projects in Ukraine for audit purposes

USAID in Ukraine has received an order to suspend all projects and expenditures on them. This happened after the US State Department ordered the suspension of aid programmes to other countries for 90 days for an audit, Suspilne was told by one of the employees of the USAID office in Kyiv.

According to him, the employees do not have detailed instructions on how the directive is to be implemented and whether there will be any exceptions.

The USAID press service told Suspilne that they had forwarded the request to the US State Department.

In Ukraine, USAID is supporting the reconstruction of schools, the provision of medical services, and the repair of the critical energy grid. The agency has also developed the Economic Support for Ukraine, USAID AGRO, and USAID Harvest projects.

According to the broadcaster, Ukrainian organisations are receiving letters about the suspension of activities funded by USAID or organisations dependent on US funding.

The Financial Times writes that diplomats from the US State Department's Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs have asked US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to exclude Ukraine from the directive, which came into force on Friday, 25 January.