Donald Trump’s shutdown of USAID has had a significant impact on several media outlets in Russia and Ukraine. Worldwide, the agency has provided nearly a half-billion in funds to media outlets. 

“The suspension of USAID has had a dramatic effect on both Ukrainian and Russian independent news outlets that relied on the grants to operate and produced work often critical of their governments,” the Washington Post reports. 

The Post labels the outlets as “independent” even though the article explains they were dependent on the US government for funding. Within days of Trump ordering a freeze on foreign assistance programs, several Ukrainian outlets began requesting donations.

The article adds, “Some organizations are saying that they are just weeks away from slashing staff or closing down entirely.” 

The funding for Ukrainian and Russian outlets are just part of a global network. “USAID has pushed nearly half a billion dollars ($472.6m) through a secretive US government financed NGO, ‘Internews Network’ (IN),” Wikileaks posted on X. “Which has “worked with” 4,291 media outlets, producing in one year 4,799 hours of broadcasts reaching up to 778 million people and “training” over 9000 journalists (2023 figures).”

While USAID funding projects are often portrayed by the US government and the Post as “democracy building,” the money is often given to organizations that promote Washington’s objectives, even at times, subverting democratic election results.