Billionaire Elon Musk said on Monday that work is underway to close the US international aid agency USAID.
This is reported by Reuters.
Musk is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and was also appointed by US President Donald Trump as head of the new Department of Government Efficiency - he is engaged in cutting budget spending and restructuring federal agencies.
Elon Musk said he is working on closing the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
"It is not repairable," Musk said, adding that President Trump agrees that it should be closed.
Earlier, the publication learned that the Trump administration fired two senior USAID security officials over the weekend after they tried to prevent representatives of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from gaining access to closed parts of the building.
Asked on Sunday whether Musk was doing a good job, Trump agreed: "He's cutting back a lot. Sometimes we don't agree with him and we don't go where he wants to go. But I think he's doing a great job. He's a smart guy. Very smart. And he's very interested in cutting our federal budget."
USAID, meanwhile, is the world's largest donor. In fiscal year 2023, the United States provided USD 72 billion in aid around the world - from women's health in conflict zones to access to clean water, HIV/AIDS treatment, energy security and anti-corruption work. In 2024, it provided 42% of all humanitarian assistance tracked by the United Nations.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, American billionaire Elon Musk accused the United States Agency for International Development of spreading the coronavirus and spreading propaganda. After these accusations, Musk deleted the organization's account from the social network.
On January 29, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy instructed to allocate funds from the budget to finance a number of key programs of the United States Agency for International Development, which were suspended after the decree of US President Donald Trump.
On January 6, Suspilne wrote that the Ukrainian office of USAID received an instruction to suspend the implementation of all projects. An unnamed employee of the office told the publication about this.
Recall, on January 20, US President Donald Trump signed a decree instructing to suspend funding for international aid to all countries for three months.
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