Ukraine is getting an additional $1.7 billion in assistance from the US government and the World Bank to pay the salaries of its healthcare workers and provide other essential services, AP reported.

The money coming from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Treasury Department, and the World Bank is meant to alleviate the acute budget deficit, the USAID said in a statement.

To date, USAID has given $4 billion in budgetary support to the Ukrainian government. These funds have been used for keeping natural gas and electricity flowing to hospitals and schools, getting humanitarian supplies to citizens, and paying the salaries of civil servants and teachers, the organization said.