This week, Ukrainians have continued to monitor the slow but steady advance of Russian troops in Donbas while actively discussing one of Trump’s latest orders: a 90-day suspension of USAID grant program pending a full audit of funds already spent. At the same time, the US has temporarily closed its doors to Ukrainian refugees.
On social networks, there was some sympathy for people trying to enter or remain in the US as refugees, but the suspension of funding for USAID grants provoked almost wild enthusiasm in part of Ukrainian society.
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Marian Zablotsky, a young but already well-known member of the Verkhovna Rada from the Servant of the People party, wrote: “I wholeheartedly support the suspension of all USAID projects and their audit. There are currently 112 such projects active in Ukraine accounting for $7 billion, the expenditure of which is scheduled annually.
“It seems (with these grants) like everything is fine, but it is not. The first problem is that almost all of these projects are reduced to endless round tables and conferences, and therefore they are talentless and meaningless, but the main problem is that most of this money remains in the United States as net profit of private companies implementing the grants.”
50% of her followers agreed with Zablotsky and launched a campaign on social networks featuring mock grief for USAID grantees. The other half stood up for non-governmental organizations funded by the US government Agency for International Development. Associates of these NGOs must now be in a stupor as they face the possibility that funding may not be resumed after the audit.
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One of the organizations that has suffered from Trumps decision is Ukraїner Media, a powerful, creative agency that, before the start of a full-scale war, successfully created video and online content about Ukraine and its attractions for local and foreign audiences. After February 24, 2022, the agency became involved in war journalism, making numerous reports from the front lines, while continuing to publish books and conduct other patriotic projects.
“Yes, now Ukraїner Media is 80%-90% dependent on USAID and the absence of a way out of this crisis will mean that, within a few months, most of our products will disappear,” said the founder of the Ukraїner agency, Bohdan Logvinenko.
“However, unfortunately, this does not mean that other media will occupy the niches that we and other organizations dependent on American funding used to occupy. In their stead will come other media forces and you will not even notice how everything around you will suddenly be swamped with oligarchic or Russian content. For example, we will no longer be able to film the “Units” series of war reports, since they are very expensive to produce. Making them more cheaply without visits to the front is possible, but then we will have to seriously sacrifice quality.”
Logvinenko also does not believe that funding for the projects stopped by the Trump administration will be resumed and is already looking for donors and sponsors among ordinary Ukrainians and the Ukrainian business community. Many other heads of Ukrainian non-governmental organizations and independent media associated with USAID have decided to follow the same path.
It is interesting that those who dislike the recipients of grants call them “Sorosites” - that is, “children” of George Soros. This term is more than twenty years old. At first, the term was neutral, but during the fight against Soros’s projects in Russia, an unjustly negative connotation was attached to it.
In the end, Russia expelled the George Soros Foundation from its territory and declared the “Sorosites” foreign agents. At the same time, Ukrainian pro-Russian mass media, such as “Strana”, also began to lash out with criticism at everyone involved in projects financed by Soros’s Open Society Foundation.
The Soros Foundation continues to operate in Ukraine. For example, it finances support for libraries destroyed or damaged by Russian shelling. While former critics pay little or no attention to the foundation’s activities the term “Sorosites” has become an umbrella term for all NGOs and media projects that are funded by US government agencies or, indeed, involving any other foreign funding organizations.
If you look closely at those who in Ukraine are now rejoicing over the end of funding for USAID projects, you will notice among them many former representatives of pro-Russian parties or individuals with pro-Russian views. These elements have started “performing” like an orchestra on social networks. For example, the statement quoted above by the deputy from Servant of the People, Zablotsky, was almost immediately reposted by anti-foreign grants people almost two thousand times.
One can only guess about the location of the conductor of this ensemble, towards whose baton their gaze is directed.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
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