In Support Of Ukraine

Today, Ukraine faces some of the toughest challenges since declaring independence in the 1990s. In the coming months, the Government of Ukraine will need to take steps to restore economic stability and to conduct free, fair, and inclusive presidential elections to allow the Ukrainian people to choose their own future. To help support Ukraine and the aspirations of its people, the United States is preparing a package of technical, financial and other assistance to meet Ukraine’s priority needs.

In Support Of Ukraine

To begin with, the U.S. government is working with Congress to provide to Ukraine one billion dollars in loan guarantees, aimed at protecting the most vulnerable Ukrainians from the impact of difficult but needed reforms. The United States also will increase foreign assistance to Ukraine to meet other urgent needs such as implementing critical economic reforms, conducting elections, and combating corruption.

As far as the planned May elections are concerned, the United States is increasing its planned assistance to support a free, fair, and inclusive process through programs that aid electoral-law reform, improve election administration, provide for election monitoring, and promote robust involvement by a strong and independent civil society and media.

In the meantime, we intend to elevate our engagement in the U.S.-Ukrainian Strategic Partnership to the ministerial level, deepening our bilateral cooperation in nuclear security and nonproliferation, political dialogue and rule of law, energy security, security cooperation, and science and technology. And we will bring together experts to discuss how to increase economic growth in Ukraine and improve our bilateral commercial relationship.

We will expand funding for the inaugural year of the U.S.-Ukraine Fulbright Science and Technology Education Program, which will fully fund the travel and studies of a select group of Ukrainian graduate students at U.S. universities in the 2014-2015 academic year. We’ll also double the number of Ukrainian students participating in the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program.

As President Barack Obama said, this is “a package that can help to institute necessary reforms inside of Ukraine, but also help to stabilize the situation so that people feel confident that in their daily lives they can meet their basic necessities.”

The President went on to say that “We admire the courage [of the Ukrainian people]; we appreciate their aspirations. The interests of the United States are solely in making sure that the people of Ukraine are able to determine their own destiny. That is something that here in the United States we believe in deeply.”