Can Ukraine survive without US help? Zelensky’s answer amid USAID shutdown

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized on Wednesday how crucial U.S. support is to his country amid the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) shutdown.

Newsweek reached out to the State Department via online form for comment.

Why It Matters

In a crackdown on federal spending led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is working on behalf of the Trump administration, the USAID’s staff has been gutted and agency spending halted over the past two weeks. The move has drawn fierce backlash from Democratic lawmakers, who say presidents cannot eliminate congressionally appropriated federal agencies.

The USAID disbursed $72 billion in fiscal year 2023, the most recent full year for which information is available. The most aid—more than $16 billion—was sent to Ukraine that year.

Ukraine has managed to hold off defeat since Russia’s invasion, which began nearly three years ago. Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale war against its neighbor on February 24, 2022. Ukraine’s military resistance has been largely fueled by aid from the U.S. and its other Western allies.

What To Know

On Wednesday, Zelensky wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that he told reporters in Kyiv that “U.S. support for Ukraine has not stopped or decreased—it continues. I am grateful for that.”

He said the Trump administration and Ukraine are not currently discussing new military aid, “but it’s too early for that. However, we have already started communicating with the U.S. team.”

In an X thread, Zelensky further explained that the early days of the war were “extremely difficult” without U.S. support. “I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if Ukraine had to face Russia without U.S. support,” he said.

The Ukrainian president also said that a hypothetical deployment of allied troops in the war-torn country “cannot happen without the United States.”

“Security guarantees must involve the United States as the most significant guarantor, alongside Europe, including the EU and the UK,” he added. “This is crucial. Only together. Whether it’s a contingent, weapons, naval presence, personnel, or air defense systems—it must be a joint effort between the U.S. and Europe.”

What People Are Saying

President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday: “USAID has been run by a bunch of radical lunatics and we’re getting them out and then we’ll make a decision.”

Trump said on Monday that shutting down the agency “should have been done a long time ago.” He also said, “I don’t think so” when asked if Congress has to be the one to dissolve the USAID.

Elon Musk, head of Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency, said during an X Spaces stream early Monday that USAID’s work was “incredibly politically partisan” and that “it’s beyond repair.”

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday that Trump has no legal authority to eliminate a congressionally funded independent agency.

They said: “Congress established the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as an independent agency, separate from the Department of State, to ensure that we can deploy development expertise and U.S. foreign assistance quickly, particularly in times of crisis, to meet our national security goals. For this reason, any effort to merge or fold USAID into the Department of State should be, and by law must be, previewed, discussed, and approved by Congress.”

What Happens Next

The Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID is likely to face legal challenges.