State Department Shuts Down USAID, Impacting Ukraine's Media Support

The State Department has announced that it is officially shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, which has been promoting the development and general existence of independent media in Ukraine, among other areas.

This step was taken a few hours before a federal appeals court overturned a lower court ruling that blocked Elon Musk and his Government Performance and Accountability Office from dismantling USAID, ABC News reported.

At the same time, in a memo distributed to USAID employees on Friday, the agency's new deputy director and former OMB official Jeremy Levin wrote that the State Department intends to take over many of USAID's functions and ongoing programs.

Two weeks after a court ruled that attempts to unilaterally eliminate USAID were likely unconstitutional, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upheld the decision on Friday, finding that the Trump administration is likely to prove that DOGE's efforts to eliminate USAID did not violate the Constitution.

On January 27, USAID confirmed the suspension of funding for all programs in Ukraine for 90 days following the State Department's order to audit all international aid. Therefore, the January 28 live broadcast of Intent.Insight was devoted to this topic.

In January, Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson Regional State Administration, said that the Kherson region would not receive the planned 110 million hryvnias from the USAID in 2025. These funds were to be used to restore irrigation systems and implement other important projects.

Кирило Бойко