US Is by Far the Largest Supporter of Ukraine: Study

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy looks on as he is surrounded by Ukrainian servicemen as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Bucha, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, April 4, 2022. Marko Djurica/file/Reuters

The U.S. government was the top humanitarian and military contributor to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion started, a new study found.

Since Feb. 24, the United States has given Kyiv 7.6 billion euros ($8.2 billion) in the form of humanitarian and military assistance, according to findings from the Kiel Institute, a German economic research think tank. Poland and the United Kingdom were the next largest givers of financial, humanitarian, and military aid.

All European Union countries provided a combined total of 2.9 billion euros ($3.13 billion), the Ukraine Support Tracker highlighted. E.U. institutions and the European investment bank offered 1.4 billion euros ($1.51 billion) and 2 billion euros ($2.16 billion), respectively.

The United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan have promised approximately 1 billion euros ($1.08 billion) worth of help.

“It is remarkable that the U.S. alone is giving significantly more than the entire E.U., in whose immediate neighborhood the war is raging,” said Christoph Trebesch, research director at the Kiel Institute and lead author of the Ukraine Support Tracker, in the report.

Government Support to Ukraine Kiel Institute

Study authors defined humanitarian aid as direct help in the form of food and medical supplies to the civilian population and financial assistance as loans, grants, and swap lines. Military aid included weaponry, equipment, utilities, and indirect financial assistance tied to military objectives.

When it comes to the aid as a percentage share of economic output, Estonia ranks as Ukraine’s largest supporter. The support the Baltic state has provided so far accounts for nearly 0.8 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). Estonia is followed by Poland (0.18 percent), Lithuania (0.06 percent), Slovakia (0.05 percent), and Sweden (0.04 percent).

The United States occupied the sixth spot with 0.0345 percent of its GDP, while the UK ranked eighth with 0.017 percent.

“Geographic proximity to Ukraine seems to play a major role in the engagement of Eastern European countries. But the UK also stands out as a supporter of Ukraine, both in absolute terms and relative to economic output,” Trebesch added.

The report provides critical information at a time when discussions surrounding assistance to Ukraine “has been anecdotal,” the report authors state.

“The main aim of this database is to quantify the scale of aid to Ukraine and to make the support measures comparable across donor countries,” Kiel researchers noted in the working paper.

More Aid Coming to Ukraine

For the last two months, the United States has given the Ukrainian government more than 7,000 small arms, 50 million rounds of ammunition, roughly 5,500 Javelin missiles, and 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft systems.

President Joe Biden recently committed to an additional $800 million in assistance to Ukraine after recent talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Speaking in an interview with CNN, Zelenskyy noted that “what’s most important is speed.”

His remarks come as reports have surfaced that Ukraine could be quickly depleting its ammunition stockpiles. Zelenskyy has appealed to the international community for more military equipment, including long-range artillery, heavily armored vehicles, and multiple launch rocket systems.

Ukrainian officials are also requesting a $50 billion aid package from the United States and other G7 countries as the government faces a growing budget deficit.

Oleg Ustenko, a top economic advisor to President Zelenskyy, revealed to reporters Monday that a delegation of Ukrainian officials will speak on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank spring meetings. The delegation will include Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko.

“It’s next to impossible. You have to understand, the $50 billion for us is crucial for keeping our lives going,” Ustenko said. “This is something which is needed to be resolved almost immediately. It’s not like we have time to wait.”

Kyiv projects that the budget shortfall will total $8 billion per month for the next six months. Before the war started, the country’s deficit for the full year was $7 billion.

A woman holds a child next to Russian soldiers in a street of Mariupol, on April 12, 2022. Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images

Meanwhile, dozens of U.S. and international charitable organizations have been helping families on the ground. Some of the top-rated charities currently participating in Ukraine relief efforts include International Medical Corps, Operation USA, Save the Children, and Center for Disaster Philanthropy.

In a briefing to reporters in New York, United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths confirmed that humanitarian ceasefires between Russian and Ukrainian forces could still be weeks away from being established.

This month, Griffiths has been meeting with senior officials in Moscow and Kyiv to discuss local ceasefires and extend much-needed assistance to devastated areas.

“Obviously, we have not yet got a humanitarian ceasefire in place on the Russian side. I went into a lot of details on this and they continued to promise to get back to me on the details of those proposals,” he stated. “Right now, if I could speak for the Russian authorities, they are not putting local ceasefires at the top of their agenda. Ceasefires are not on the horizon right now. They may be in a couple of weeks. They may be a bit longer than that.”

Writing in a social media post, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk recently demanded Russian forces permit evacuations and aid in the embattled port city of Mariupol.

“Once again, we demand the opening of a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians, especially women and children, from Mariupol,” she wrote.