Trump halted cash funding for a Ukrainian center that studies weapons of mass destruction

U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the country to withdraw from 66 international organizations and UN bodies that “contradict the interests of the United States.” The list includes the Ukrainian Science and Technology Center (USTC), which was jointly funded by the EU, the U.S., and Canada; it studies weapons of mass destruction and has been criticized by Russia.

The White House press service reported the order.

The USTC was created in the early 1990s, during Ukraine’s nuclear and chemical disarmament. The stated purpose of the Ukrainian organization is to prevent knowledge about creating weapons—especially nuclear or biological weapons—from falling into the hands of terrorists and certain countries, and to redirect scientists’ work into peaceful channels.

In 2022, Russia claimed that Washington had spent more than $350 million “in just the past few years” on USTC projects, including on “military-biological programs” and research allegedly in the Pentagon’s interests in the area of biological weapons. China repeated these accusations.

The U.S., Ukraine, and the center itself rejected the allegations, emphasizing that the center supports only peaceful scientific research. After February 2022, they described such accusations as an attempt by Russia to justify its invasion of Ukraine.

In addition to the USTC, Trump also halted participation in organizations such as the Forum of European National Highway Research Laboratories, the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, and the Pan-American Institute of Geography and History. It is unclear how they contradict Washington’s interests.