Posted on Apr 21, 2022 at 5:57pm. Updated April 21, 2022 at 6:18 p.m.
Who has responded most effectively to Ukraine’s call for help since the first Russian tanks entered their territory? A database put online this week by a German think tank makes it possible to visualize the wide disparities between the countries that have declared their support for Kyiv.
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy team aggregated all public data on aid from 31 countries – EU member states and other G7 members – as well as donations from European institutions between the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, February 24, and the end of March . “Since the beginning of the war, the public debate has mainly focused on measures to effectively undermine the Russian executive branch, while support for Ukraine has received less attention, partly due to a lack of data,” explains Christoph Trebesch, research director at the think tank and lead author of the database.
First observation: even if Europe has multiplied its gestures to show its support for Kyiv, it is the United States that has given it by far the most money. They alone spent 7.6 billion euros. A little more than half for military aid (arms supplies, military rations and various loans to the army), the rest for humanitarian aid. Overall, more than three-quarters of bilateral military aid to Kyiv since the war began came from Washington.
Next comes neighboring Poland (just under €1 billion disbursed), whose support is essentially financial, then the United Kingdom (€0.7 billion), the second largest supplier of military aid to the Ukrainians after the United States.
Estonia’s Efforts
The EU’s first two powers, Germany and France, come after, the first mainly for their humanitarian aid and the second for their financial support. In fact, Paris has given Kyiv a loan of 300 million euros and provided more than 100 million euros in humanitarian aid. However, due to a lack of available data, the think tank does not count on French help at the military level.
The Elysée was in fact particularly discreet, only mentioning the shipment of defense equipment and fuel, and then “a few dozen” missiles. Data on military aid from all other countries is better known, the think tank points out, although it is incomplete for Spain and Finland.
On the part of the European institutions, a EUR 1 billion fund has been approved by the EU Council to compensate member states that are providing military assistance to Ukraine. But even adding this to the other European instruments – including a €2 billion emergency loan announced by the European Investment Bank – and all the measures introduced by the Twenty-Seven, the total (€6.3 billion) remains lower than indicated on the Table from the United States.
However, the efforts of some Member States are considerable. Relative to gross domestic product, four Eastern European countries provide more development assistance than the United States. Notably Estonia, which is making by far the biggest effort, with aid estimated at almost 0.8% of its GDP. In France, it accounts for less than 0.02% of GDP.
