US State Department is preparing new exceptions to the aid freeze for Ukraine - Politico
Kyiv • UNN
The U.S. State Department is working to expand the list of exceptions to the freeze on foreign aid for Ukraine. New exceptions may open access to some economic and security assistance.
Senior U.S. State Department officials are compiling a list of additional exceptions to the freeze on foreign aid for Ukraine that could provide the country access to some economic and security-related assistance that is currently suspended, Politico reports, writes UNN.
Details
If approved, these exceptions would go beyond those that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has allowed worldwide for "essential" assistance to fund programs such as demining and drug control, according to a State Department official, two other people familiar with the planning, and a document obtained by the publication.
It was unclear whether an exception is being developed for State Department-controlled foreign military financing for Ukraine, the publication writes.
"In practical terms, it is unclear whether additional assistance will reach Ukraine even with new exceptions, given that the already approved exceptions for humanitarian aid have been largely blocked," the publication writes.
But, as noted, from a political standpoint, efforts to expand exceptions for Ukraine "hint at divisions within the Trump team on how to deal with Kyiv".
Noting that "President Donald Trump last week engaged in verbal diatribes against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while pursuing peaceful negotiations with russia", the publication states that "some of Trump's aides, including Keith Kellogg, the special representative for russia and Ukraine, and Rubio, have been more critical of russia, though cautiously or privately".
The State Department, as noted, sidestepped the question of whether new exceptions for Ukraine have been provided, stating in a statement that "programs that serve our country's interests will continue. However, programs that do not serve our national interests will not continue." Representatives of the U.S. State Department and National Security Council, as noted, did not respond to requests for comment on whether additional exceptions for Ukraine are being discussed.
The plans for exceptions date back at least to the end of January, a few days after the Trump administration imposed a broad freeze on foreign aid, according to the document. The exceptions proposed in it cover programs ranging from general economic support and demining to drug control and health programs.
These internal discussions took place as recently as last week, according to a State Department official and internal messages between officials of the bureau, which the publication reviewed.
The proposed exceptions also include accounts that control funding for supporting Ukraine's democratic institutions and civil society, which are referred to internally as transition initiatives and the so-called Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia or AEECA assistance.
According to the document, exceptions will not be allowed for programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI.