(4 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pavlohrad, Ukraine – 1 February 2025
1. Wide of transition center for evacuees from Donetsk region
2. Close of woman sitting on bed
3. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Kateryna Odraha, 83, Donetsk region resident:
"Broken roads, broken water pipes, no electricity, how can you live like this? Let them be reconciled. Let Trump or whoever is there, let them be reconciled. May your generation continue to grow. How can I leave my son?"
4. Close of people lying on bed
5. Wide of transition center for evacuees
6. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Illia Novikov, IDPs support teams lead of Relief Coordination Center:
"This is critical because there will be fewer people who can help (people affected by the war). And I hope it will not affect (services), but maybe there will be less help for those people we can save. But again, at the moment, the trend of evacuation continues, and we are preparing for a possible increase."
7. Various of people in evacuation centre
8. Various of evacuees in registration room
9. Close of USAID logo on wall
STORYLINE:
In what used to be this eastern Ukraine town’s concert hall, cots are arranged on the stage and 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 center 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 German occupation of her village during World War II.
But that refuge may now be in peril.
The shelter for evacuees costs the equivalent of $7,000 a month to run, and 60% of that was being covered by U.S. funds sent to help Ukraine.
President Donald Trump’s decision last month 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 miles from the Ukrainian front line.
Trump’s decision immediately halted thousands of U.S.-funded humanitarian, development, and security programs, and the consequences have rippled across the world.
“This is critical because there will be fewer people who can help,” said Illia Novikov, the coordinator of the Pavlohrad transit center, which is run by the charity organization Relief Coordination Center.
The U.S. 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.
Across Ukraine, many other sectors are reeling from the aid freeze, which places additional strain on Ukraine’s stretched wartime finances.
Energy projects, veteran support programs, psychological helplines, cybersecurity, healthcare, independent media, and even border infrastructure projects have been affected. The aid was intended to help cushion the war’s impact.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his government expects $300-400 million in aid to be cut. Most of that was for the energy sector that has been targeted by Russia.
AP video shot by Vasilisa Stepanenko
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