State Department Officials Pushing To Release More Frozen Ukraine Funds

Senior State Department officials are compiling a list of additional exemptions to the foreign aid freeze for Ukraine that could give the country access to some economic and security-related assistance currently on hold.

If enacted, the waivers would go beyond ones that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has allowed worldwide for “core life-saving” assistance to fund programs such as demining and narcotics control, according to a State Department official, two other people familiar with the planning and a document obtained by POLITICO.

It was not clear if an exemption for State Department-controlled foreign military financing was in the works for Ukraine, which just entered its fourth year of battling a full-scale Russian invasion. Congress has appropriated more than $4 billion so far for such aid to Ukraine’s military. Most of it already has been allocated for an array of expenses, from obtaining weapons such as javelin missiles to equipment such as radios. Some of these contracts last years, making it difficult to ascertain exactly how much has been spent.

On a practical level, it’s uncertain that additional Ukraine aid would make it to Kyiv even with new exemptions, given that already approved waivers for humanitarian aid have been largely stymied.

But politically, the efforts to expand Ukraine exemptions hint at divisions inside the Trump team over how to deal with Kyiv.

President Donald Trump last week engaged in verbal diatribes against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy while pursuing peace talks with Russia, and there are fears he may abandon Kyiv completely. The Trump administration has even campaigned against Ukraine at the U.N. Security Council this week to try to prevent passage of a resolution condemning Russia for invading Ukraine.

But some of Trump’s aides, including Keith Kellogg, the special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, and Rubio, have been more critical of Russia, even if cautiously or in private.

The State Department sidestepped a question about whether new Ukraine waivers had been granted, saying in a statement that “programs that serve our nation’s interests will continue. However, programs that aren’t aligned with our national interest will not.” Spokespersons for the State Department and the National Security Council did not respond to requests for comment about whether additional Ukraine waivers were being discussed.

The State Department official and two others familiar with the planning were granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about internal administration policies.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Congress has allocated $175 billion for aid to Ukraine, other countries affected by the war and related programs, according to an analysis by the Council on Foreign Relations from last fall. A small slice of that — around $3 billion, according to CFR — is for humanitarian aid, but those funds can go a long way because such material is less expensive to buy than weapons.

Plans for the exemptions date to at least late January, days after the Trump administration imposed the broad foreign aid freeze, according to the document. The exemptions proposed in it covered programs ranging from general economic support to landmine removal to narcotics control and health programs.

These internal conversations were occurring as recently as last week, per the State Department official and internal messages between bureau officials seen by POLITICO.

The proposed exemptions also include accounts that oversee funding to support Ukraine’s democratic institutions and civil society, referred to internally as transition initiatives and so-called assistance to Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia, or AEECA funds.

According to the document, waivers would not be permitted for programs that encourage diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI.

Yuri Kim, the principal deputy assistant secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, has been tasked with compiling a list of programs from bureaus and offices across the department that relate to Ukraine as part of the effort to expand the exemptions, the State Department official told POLITICO.

Kim did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The exact chain of command involved was unclear. The State Department official said the process is bypassing the department’s foreign assistance office. That unit is led by Pete Marocco, a Trump ally and skeptic of foreign aid who has taken a lead role in dismantling USAID. But the document said the foreign assistance office would be consulted.

Marocco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A slow bureaucratic process has left many programs whose leaders believe they are eligible for waivers frozen. Many groups around the world — including in Ukraine — have been unable to get their funding restored or even figure out who to contact at USAID for a waiver.

The State Department requires each program to make an individual case proving it fits the waiver’s criteria. Even when waivers are granted, payment systems remain turned off, keeping money from reaching aid organizations, according to a congressional aide granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s ranking member, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), has asked Rubio to prioritize waivers that allow aid to go to Ukraine. She said she saw firsthand how a freeze on U.S. aid was hurting Ukrainians during a recent visit to Ukraine and Poland.

One organization in Poland that was providing mental health care for Ukrainian refugees was no longer able to treat patients, including a young woman who was harming herself, due to a lack of funding, Shaheen said.

“It was heartbreaking,” Shaheen said, adding that the aid freeze “undermines our national interest.”

Veronika Melkozerova contributed to this report.