Europe has overtaken the United States as the greatest supporter of Ukraine, statistics say.
16: 27 • Updated 16:28
US president Donald Trump This week claimed that the United States has supported Ukraine more than Europe.
According to Trump, the United States has supported Ukraine for “more than $ 300 billion”, while Europe would have given $ 100 billion, according to the President.
Trump’s statements are not true.
The German Language Institute has collected information on Ukraine grants since the beginning of the Russian offensive war. According to the institute’s statistics, Europe has overall supported Ukraine than the United States.
European countries and EU institutions have supported Ukraine with the help of humanitarian and financial support of approximately EUR 70 billion, and Ukraine has been militarily supported by EUR 62 billion.
The United States, on the other hand, has given Ukraine a humanitarian and financial support of EUR 50 billion. The United States alone has given more military support than Europe, totaling EUR 64 billion, but the sum of the grants remains behind Europe.
The latest statistics published in the Institute in the Institute are from the end of last year, that is, the graphics below have not taken into account the support given this year.
The European subsidy amounts still small
As a single country, the United States has given the most support to Ukraine. When subsidies are proportional to the size of the US economy, it has supported Ukraine in about the same way as Britain and Croatia.
Although Europe ignores the United States in the amount of Ukraine, our continent cannot be lulled for adequate support. Support to Ukraine has been quite small when it is compatible with the size of GDP (GDP) of different states. For example, France has only supported Ukraine by less than 0.2 % of GDP.
Project leading professor of economics Christoph Trebesch The Kiel’s World Economy Institute estimates that supporting Ukraine does not appear to be a central political issue for European supporters when looking at the budgets of countries.
In Germany, for example, many smaller internal political issues have become much more expensive than supporting Ukraine. One such is the German diesel cars Tukiainen, whose price tag is three times higher than the country’s military support in Ukraine, the February bulletin of the Institute states.
Finland has supported Ukraine in the fourth highest number of economic size since Estonia, Denmark, Lithuania and Latvia.
The supporters have recently ordered new weapons and military equipment for Ukraine from the arms industry, according to the Institute’s statistics. After the start of the invasion war, Ukraine’s defense was initially supported by supporters’ own warehouses, but now the situation is different. For example, as many as three quarters of military support from Germany have been ordered from industry, the Institute says.
Military support refers to all kinds of weapons and military equipment given to Ukraine, as well as donations made to the Ukrainian army such as water bottles, gasoline and grocery.
Additional action is required for Europe
After Trump started peace talks with Russia, petitions for strengthening European Ukraine support have become more intense.
Former prime minister Sanna Marin (sd.) wrote In The Economist magazinethat if Europe is serious about taking on a key role in the Ukrainian peace talks, increasing Ukraine’s military support is determined and immediately by far the most effective way to do so.
Marin referred to his employer Tony Blair’s report that an annual $ 40 billion military additional subsidy would probably be sufficient to respond to Russian resources on the battlefields. This amount corresponds to 0.2 % of the European NATO countries GDP.
Commissioner Henna Virkkunen Said Thursday that the EU’s first priority is currently increasing its Ukraine support.
“We are able to add it and still need to be added,” Virkkunen said.
Iro Särkkä, a senior researcher at the Institute for Foreign Affairs, estimates in the news podcast that Europe has failed and that is why Trump is now marching over the mainland.