It is February February in Venita, a city in Gharbia Ukraine Where the families displaced by the war found a shelter. For Marina, 42, the struggle to rebuild a life that has been shattered by the conflict has not yet ended. The mother who escaped from Jacon with her son describes the emotional and physical losses of the displacement. “After moving to Fenteesia, I was looking for any opportunity to adapt. I removed my home and my hair with stability and the most difficult thing is to see my child suffering.” Newsweek.
Maryna found condolences in programs supported by NGOs such as Spring of Hope, which helps the internally displaced. These initiatives provided a vital psychological support and a recovery space through group activities and family events. “It was a way to stay standing on his feet, and I do not lose myself and help my son adapt.” But now, With the closing of the United States Agency for International DevelopmentThese critical services disappeared. “We no longer have a place to come to, as we felt that we are understood, as we can at least pay our attention from constant anxiety.” Without this support, she is concerned that her son will retreat to the isolation she carries at the beginning of the war.
Hope in Ukraine
president Donald Trump It was announced on Friday that his administration plans to eliminate almost all the remaining positions in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). With the suspension of the programs already, more than 90 percent of the employees are either on vacation, termination and accumulation of lawsuits, Foreign Minister Marco Rubio Earlier this month announced that the discounts had already canceled 83 percent of US Foreign aid contracts. These cuts are to reveal the fragile support systems that helped prevent many Ukrainians from falling into despair.
In a small town on the outskirts of the front lines, Yuri Bewwitko, CEO of The Naggo Hope for Ukraine, tells Ukraine, Newsweek One of the most affected areas of Trump’s freezing is firewood programs that serve front lines villages. “We have delivered a pick -up truck full of firewood to the yard of an elderly woman. She went out, took a piece, kissed her and cried – because this is the amount that he means to her,” he remembers. Wrinos, which is a simple necessity, is now more expensive than bread for Marhanets, a town, only 10 kilometers from Russian territory.
About 45,000 residents of the city face daily bombings and drones. The situation in March is still great as the residents are awaiting the confirmation of the ceasefire, yet they are still forced to search for shelter, trapped in the intersection of the conflict. On March 25, 2025, Russian forces launched a huge attack on drones on DNIPROPTROVSK Oblast, including Marhanets and Nikopol, which represents one of the largest and most intense war attacks so far.
Hope in Ukraine
With the destruction of the region’s infrastructure and a constant threat, these volunteers are the only hope for families trying to keep them in the brutal winter months. Boyechko team leads firewood trucks of the western part of Ukraine to these destructive societies. “When we delivered firewood to a couple in their seventies in Maranitz in the Dnibro region, the husband’s eyes were swinging with tears. Without it, they had no way to stay warm.”
But stopping the US Agency for International Development is its losses. “Once the effect becomes completely, their money will dry out and will not be able to work,” says Boyceko. Small NGOs that enter to fill the gaps for mobilization without the resources they have once relied. Boyechko team tries to find alternative ways to obtain firewood to these societies, but without enough money for gas or logistics, efforts may stop soon. “We are talking about small amounts – between 3000 dollars to $ 5,000 with a truck of firewood,” he added, stressing that for these volunteers, each penny matters.
According to current estimates, Boyechko states that nearly 40 percent of the Ukrainian population – about 14.6 million people – recover some forms of humanitarian aid.
The psychological wounds of the war may be less clear, but clear. Oksana, who fled from the occupied territories only with herself, left behind a family feared that she might not see it again. “In a new city, I felt lost, and I didn’t know where to start, and no one had to talk to him,” she recalls. Her decision to leave was painful, and torn between the hope of safety and guilt of giving up its loved ones.
It was not until Oksana reached the spring of hope that began to recover. The support received by the information counseling, individual psychological assistance, the food package, and the cleaning group included. It seeks to get more assistance, has joined four mutual relief groups and attended training sessions on psychological self -assistance, combating gender -based violence and financial literacy. “They took me out of the darkest ideas and brought me back to life,” she says. But like Maryna, oksana is afraid of those who are still struggling without any support. “I don’t know how to manage others without this help … Many people still need it,” as I worry. Every day, new displaced families reach the city, and their future is uncertain. “How will they deal without this support?”
This stoppage in the United States Development Agency has left critical mental health programs, such as The United strike (UHU), in danger. Marina Pedic, Executive Director of UHU, talks about expanding programs that were helping families like Maryna. “We are training more processors to expand our arrival and have provided specialized training and training sessions designed on the unique needs of adolescents,” says Baydyuk. However, with the freezing of financing, these programs are now very limited.
Boyechko, founder of Hope of Orgene, who directly saw the effect of freezing, notes that although the decision may not make a big difference in the United States, on the ground in Ukraine, small aid amounts can make a difference in life or birth. He says: “It will not make a difference in the United States, but here, up to $ 5,000, can change everything,” he says.
Discounts to support mental health is deep. Without these services, the psychological losses of the war will only deepen, according to Baydyuk, the president of UHU. “It will take decades and generations to completely recover. This is in housing and rebuilding cities, homes, life, health, mental health and education,” she says.
Another main result of the freezing of aid is to affect adult facilities with special needs in Ukraine. Boyechko said that before the war, it is called a facility called Hrushkivsʹkyy psykhonevrohichnyy, which is located in YakToriv in the LVIV region, which includes about 120 to 150 population, but the conditions were bad. “When the war escalated, about 200 people of internally displaced people with special needs were moved from the east. Newsweek.
In response, the US Agency for International Development helped rebuild the facility, allowing it to accommodate more than 300 people. Without this aid, these individuals had faced difficult circumstances without any space for the people who were displaced.
Likewise, in Kharkiv, just 19 miles from the Russian border, many children are attended by school underground to protect themselves from weather strikes. These underground schools, created with the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development, are vital to ensuring the safety of children while maintaining their education. An indispensable aid has proven to protect the safety and future of the residents of Kharkiv and Yaimalv in the Lviv area.
Even with the recent interventions of the court to stabilize the United States Agency for International Development, including re -accessing critical systems and stopping more employee employees, the agency faces great obstacles. Boyceko said that even if the situation settles in the coming months, it will take months, and it will take longer, to restart vital programs such as the displaced Ukrainian assistants. “This means that we are looking for a delay from six to nine months before restoring services and basic support systems completely.” For Ukrainians, the immediate effect is clear: delaying aid and program interruptions will only exacerbate their fragile position.
