U.S. aid freeze: A journalist explains in detail what this means for Ukraine.

The freeze on U.S. aid to Ukraine, as ordered by President Donald Trump to the State Department, does not affect the two main military aid programs for our country. This clarification was provided by journalist Ostap Yarysh in an interview with "Voice of America."

According to Politico, the State Department has paused all international aid programs, which "seems to include military support for Ukraine." Yarysh explained what this is about, emphasizing the importance of context.

"Several sources tell me that this concerns the FMF program (Foreign Military Financing). Last year, Congress allocated $1.6 billion for it, and those funds were exhausted back in May. The other two programs — PDA and USAI... are not currently affected by the pause. The Pentagon has confirmed to me again that no new instructions to halt these programs have been issued,” the journalist wrote on his Facebook page.

This means, he clarified, that contracts for weapon production under the USAI program, established by the previous U.S. president Joe Biden’s administration, remain in effect. Additionally, this directive from Trump does not impact any previously planned deliveries of weapons to Ukraine from U.S. stockpiles under the PDA program.

"So technically — yes, the State Department's directive pertains to military support through the FMF mechanism. But in reality — the two main programs, PDA and USAI, which are still ongoing regarding the production and delivery of arms for Ukraine, are currently operating without changes,” Yarysh noted.

In theory, it cannot be ruled out that future planned arms deliveries to Ukraine may be halted. However, a separate procedure is required for that.

"As for announcing new weapon packages — that decision will depend on the Trump administration. For Biden's PDA program, he has about $4 billion left,” the journalist added.

At the same time, it seems that the aid freeze is affecting other non-military but very important assistance programs for Ukraine, particularly from the USAID agency. Funds from these programs are directed towards energy support, infrastructure restoration, medical assistance, education, etc. What will happen next with these programs remains unclear, Yarysh noted.

"There are also changes in programs for refugees from Ukraine, particularly United for Ukraine (U4U), which was initiated by Biden. From now on, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is putting it on pause. Applications for asylum in the U.S. under this program will not be processed for the time being,” the journalist explained.

As previously reported by "Telegraf," blogger and businessman Roman Shrayk explained what the freezing of U.S. foreign aid by Trump means for Ukraine. According to him, in reality, all aid to Ukraine provided for in the budgets passed by Congress has already been exhausted. No new funds for Ukraine have been allocated by Congress, nor are there plans to do so.