After seventy-five years of peace on the Old Continent, the war in Ukraine has acted as an electric shock. A powerful wave of support – military, humanitarian and financial – emerged from the beginning of the Russian invasion, in particular from the United States of Joe Biden and the finally united European Union.
Flourish – Untitled Visualization
Between February 24, 2022 and January 15, 2023, 41 countries committed aid, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), a think tank based in Germany. In addition to the Americans and Europeans, there are other members of the G7 (Canada, Japan) or even Australia, South Korea, Turkey, Norway and India. In total, nearly 145 billion euros have been committed.
According to IfW Kiel’s Ukraine Support Tracker, which focuses on government-to-government transfers to Kyiv, the United States is – by far – the biggest donor with more than 73 billion euros, of which 37 billion promised in December 2022. In comparison, China, which has repeatedly expressed its support for Russia in the face of Western sanctions, has spent “only” 2 million euros. In second place is the European Union (EU), whose 27 member states have committed 54.9 billion euros (bilateral aid and joint aid via the institutions).
Estonia, Latvia, Poland…
If Washington and Brussels concentrate more than 80% of aid in kyiv, their natures are on the other hand very different. Thus approximately 60% of American support is military (44.34 billion), while the aid provided by the EU is essentially financial.
In terms of military support, we find in second position the United Kingdom (4.9 billion), one of the first states to have announced the supply of weapons and then heavy tanks to Ukraine. Another major donor: Poland, a neighbor of Ukraine, has committed more than 3.5 billion euros, including 2.4 billion in military aid (third place in this regard).
23degrees_io – Ukraine Support Tracker Map
A suprise ? Not really. Because if we reduce aid to the gross domestic product (GDP) of each of the donor countries, we realize that the largest amounts come from the countries of Eastern Europe – which are also on the front line in receiving Ukrainian refugees.
Aid from Estonia thus represents 1.07% of its GDP, against only 0.37% for the United States and… 0.07% for France (1.67 billion in donations). Behind, we find Latvia (0.98%), Lithuania (0.65%) and Poland (0.63%). Bulgaria (0.36%), Slovakia (0.22%) and the Czech Republic (0.24%) have lower shares of bilateral aid, but these States spend twice as much if their participation via the EU. Expenses as an illustration of the danger felt by these border countries or geographically close to Russia.
