Ukraine's Zelenskyy on Donald Trump admin halting foreign aid: ‘It's not stopped, thank god'

US secretary of state Marco Rubio announced on Saturday that he would pause foreign aid grants for 90 days, apart from ones going to Israel and Egypt.

Updated on: Jan 26, 2025, 08:53:00 IST

By HT News Desk

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday the US has not stopped military aid to Ukraine amid news that the Donald Trump administration has paused foreign aid for 90 days.

FILE - Former President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower. (AP)

According to Zelenskyy, he is focused on military aid and thanked ‘God’ that it hasn't been stopped.

“I am focused on military aid; it has not been stopped, thank God,” an Associated Press quoted Zelenskyy as saying at a press conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu.

According to the report, Ukraine relies on the US for 40 per cent of its military needs. The Ukrainian leader did not specify if the humanitarian aid has been paused for the country fighting a bloody war with Russia since January 2022.

The newly sworn in US secretary of state Marco Rubio announced on Saturday that he would pause foreign aid grants for 90 days, apart from ones going to Israel and Egypt.

In an internal memo, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, "No new funds shall be obligated for new awards or extensions of existing awards until each proposed new award or extension has been reviewed and approved.", AFP reported.

Donald Trump's views on Russia-Ukraine war

The future of US aid to Ukraine remains uncertain as President Donald Trump begins his second term in the White House. The American leader has repeatedly said he wouldn’t have allowed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to start if he had been in office, although he was president as fighting grew in the east of the country between Kyiv’s forces and separatists aligned with Moscow, ahead of Putin sending in tens of thousands of troops in 2022.

On Thursday, Trump told Fox News that Zelenskyy should have made a deal with Putin to avoid the conflict. A day earlier, Trump also threatened to impose stiff tariffs and sanctions on Russia if an agreement isn’t reached to end the fighting in Ukraine.

Speaking in Kyiv on Saturday, Zelenskyy said he had enjoyed “good meetings and conversations with President Trump” and that he believed the Republican would succeed in his desire to end the war.

“This can only be done with Ukraine, and otherwise it simply will not work because Russia does not want to end the war, and Ukraine does,” Zelenskyy said..

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