Ukraine has received an additional $1.7 billion in assistance from the US government and the World Bank to pay for beleaguered health care workers and provide other essential services.
In a statement, the US Agency for International Development said that the funds that will arrive Tuesday, from the US Treasury and the World Bank, are aimed at alleviating severe budget deficits caused by the “brutal war of aggression” waged by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
While many medical personnel left Ukraine, some hospitals closed and others were bombed, while health workers in Ukraine continued to work under harsh conditions.
Viktor Lyashko, Ukraine’s health minister, said paying health workers was becoming more difficult every month “because of the enormous burden of war”.
“The $1.7 billion is not just another financial support, it is an investment that brings us one step closer to victory,” Lyashko added in a statement.
So far, USAID has provided $4 billion in budget support to the Ukrainian government. The money was used to keep gas and electricity flowing to hospitals and schools, deliver humanitarian supplies to citizens, and pay civil servants and teachers’ salaries, the organization said.
With Putin’s assault on public services in Ukraine continuing, the United States is accelerating financial support to help the government keep the lights on, provide essential services to innocent citizens and pay the health care workers who provide support, said USAID Administrator Samantha Power. A life saver on the front lines.
Last week, the US administration said it would send another $400 million worth of military equipment to Ukraine, the 15th batch of weapons and military equipment transferred to Ukraine from Defense Ministry stockpiles since last August.
This new pool of funds will be used for humanitarian purposes.
“This assistance will help the democratic government of Ukraine provide essential services to the Ukrainian people,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement, adding that the money would “go to those who need it most on the front lines of Putin’s brutal and illegal war.”
Overall, the United States has sent regarding $7.3 billion in aid to Ukraine since the war began in late February.
