‘Scaling Back’ – Citing Budget Shortage, UN Trims Humanitarian Aid to Kyiv

As funding for the UN is shrinking, coinciding with austerity measures ushered in by US President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies, the UN announced that it will scale back humanitarian aid efforts in Ukraine, an official from the global body’s Humanitarian Affairs Office said Tuesday.

In January, AFP reported, the UN had asked for $2.63 billion in funding to assist six million people who need aid in Ukraine, but due to a “sharp contraction” in humanitarian funding, “the UN and its partners... have further reprioritized” its operations in Ukraine to reach 4.8 million people with $1.75 billion, Joyce Msuya of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told the UN Security Council.

“The objective is to reach those most at risk and most in need, centering on four core response priorities: people near the front line, evacuations, emergency response after strikes, and aid to the most vulnerable among the internally displaced people,” she said.

“Without increased support, even the necessary life-saving efforts could be jeopardized,” she added.

Overall, 12.7 million people are estimated to need aid in Ukraine.

UN agencies have announced reductions in operations and staffing levels globally following major drops in donor contributions, particularly from the United States. According to the Cato Institute, a US-based libertarian think tank, Washington paid 28 percent ($13 billion) of the $46.4 billion of UN member government funding in 2023.

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In a memo drafted earlier this month, the Trump administration proposed a 2026 budget of $28.4 billion to the State Department, down almost half from its 2025 allocation of $54.4 billion. That accounted for the already-enacted process of dismantling USAID, whose remaining humanitarian programs will now be under the State Department.

To date, Trump’s administration has reduced USAID funding by 83 percent. Until now, USAID ran an annual budget of $42.8 billion, or 42 percent of all humanitarian aid disbursed worldwide, AFP reported.

Earlier this month, Devex, a Washington-based media platform for the global development community, reported that Trump’s cuts have been devastating for the economy of Geneva, Switzerland, in particular:

“Geneva, long the diplomatic engine room of the United Nations, is reeling,” Drexel wrote. “The World Health Organization, UN Refugee Agency, or UNHCR, and UNAIDS are all scaling back.”