Kim says US funding suspension «hardly affected Mykolaiv region»

The head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, Vitalii Kim, said that the suspension of funding for USAID programmes did not significantly affect the implementation of projects in the region.

The head of the Regional Military Administration said this on the air of the telethon «Yedyni Novyny», according to NikVesti.

«The reduction or cancellation of the USAID project has hardly affected Mykolaiv region. There is a veterans' programme for 100,000 hryvnias, which we have now picked up, so we are doing well under this programme,» said Vitalii Kim.

He also added that the region continues to work on projects to protect critical infrastructure and increase capacity.

«At the last meeting, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that there is a plan to strengthen the energy independence of our region, including the city. We are currently working on it to ensure that next year we can approach the heating season in an even more diversified and secure way,» added Vitalii Kim.

Read also the article NikVesti «Due to the suspension of US funding, projects worth millions of dollars are being frozen in Mykolaiv: which ones?»

On 26 January, it became known that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Ukraine had been instructed to suspend all projects and related expenditures.

On 28 January, the US Department of State revised its decision to suspend funding for USAID programmes, introducing a number of exceptions. First and foremost, they apply to humanitarian programmes that provide «essential life-saving medicines, medical services, food, shelter, and living assistance, as well as supplies and reasonable administrative costs necessary to provide such assistance». At the same time, USAID employees were ordered to destroy classified documents and personal files.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will consider funding energy and infrastructure programmes in Ukraine, which were previously the responsibility of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).