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US aid freeze puts Ukraine’s help for frontline evacuees at risk

US aid freeze puts Ukraine’s help   for frontline evacuees at risk
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Pavlohrad (Ukraine): In what used to be the concert hall in this town in eastern Ukraine, cots are arranged on stage. Instead of music, the room is filled with the muffled sobs of local people driven from their homes by fighting in the country’s almost three-year war with Russia.

The Russian army’s recent advances have engulfed towns and villages in the area. The Pavlohrad concert hall was requisitioned as a temporary centre for local civilians fleeing the relentless Russian bombardment.

“It’s good here. There’s food, warmth, and a place to wash,” said 83-year-old Kateryna Odraha, who lived through the Nazi German occupation of her village during World War II.

That refuge may now be in peril. The shelter costs the equivalent of $7,000 a month to run, and 60 per cent of that was being covered by US funds sent to help Ukraine.

President Donald Trump’s decision last week to freeze for 90 days the humanitarian aid that the United States provides to countries overseas was felt in places far from Washington, including here, a few km from the front line in eastern Ukraine.

Trump’s decision immediately halted thousands of US-funded humanitarian, development and security programmes. The consequences have rippled across the world.

“This news was abrupt and unexpected,” said Illia Novikov, the coordinator of the Pavlohrad transit centre, which is run by the charity organisation Relief Coordination Centre. “At this moment, we have no idea what the future holds.”

The US funding covered fuel for evacuation vehicles, salaries for aid workers, legal and psychological support, and tickets to help evacuees reach safer locations, he said.

Usually about 60 people pass through the shelter each day, but when the Russian bombardment worsens, that can climb to more than 200, according to Novikov.

Many people heading here have spent months living in their basement without electricity, running water or enough food.

Vasyl Odraha, 58, remained in his local village for months, even as artillery fire and Russian guided bomb strikes became more frequent as the war moved closer.

He said he initially believed that Trump would stop the war within 24 hours of taking office, as he had promised during his election campaign. “We pinned our hopes on Trump’s election,” he said, sitting on a cot beside his 83-year-old mother.

When the fighting didn’t stop, and the front line moved to within less than 3 km (2 miles) of where they lived, they fled at dawn.

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