Dozens of countries have supplied military support to Ukraine since Russia invaded it on February 24, either in the form of weapons, financial aid for arms purchases or military training.
The United States is by far the biggest supplier of weapons to Ukraine, followed by the United Kingdom, Poland and Germany.
The Germany-based Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks military, humanitarian and financial support for Ukraine, in its latest report Tuesday noted that new pledges of support from European countries had tapered off over the summer and remained at a low level.
Noting that the US has committed nearly twice as much money as all EU members and institutions combined on Ukraine, the Kiel Institute noted: “This is a meagre showing for the bigger European countries, especially since many of their pledges are arriving in Ukraine with long delays.”
Here are some of the report’s main findings:
US biggest spender
US President Joe Biden’s administration has pledged 27.6 billion euros ($26.8 billion) in military support to Ukraine since the war began, including 15.2 billion in weapons and 11.7 billion in defence aid.
Britain, whose former prime minister Boris Johnson was the first leader of a major Western country to visit Ukraine after the war began, comes next with a promise of 3.7 billion euros, including 1.5 billion euros in weapons.
Poland is third with weapons pledges worth 1.8 billion euros.
France lags behind
France, which has one of the biggest armies in Europe, has been criticised for its relatively low level of spending on Ukraine’s defence.
By October 3, it had delivered 220 million euros in weapons, placing it ninth among donor countries, according to the Kiel Institute’s report.
French defence officials have argued that France’s stocks of heavy weapons are limited and that Paris, which has already given 18 truck-mounted CAESAR cannons, cannot give away more without leaving national security exposed.
President Emmanuel Macron promised Monday however to increase his government’s support.
Eastern Europe most generous
The most generous countries are not necessarily those that spend the most.
The former Soviet Baltic republics of Latvia and Estonia have spent significantly more on bilateral military, financial and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as a percentage of their GDP (0.9 percent and 0.8 percent respectively), than the United States or the United Kingdom (0.2 percent each).
Tanks, howitzers and rocket launchers
In the early weeks of the war, most Western countries held off on sending heavy weapons to Ukraine, restricting themselves to sending defensive equipment only.
But as revelations of Russian atrocities in Ukraine began piling up, the US and other partners began sending howitzer cannons, tanks and the multiple rocket launchers that have been credited with helping Ukraine regain ground in the east.
Poland pledged 240 tanks, representing 30 percent of its tally, the Czech Republic pledged 20 and Slovenia sent 28 old models in exchange for newer vehicles from Germany.
The pledges represented varying proportions of the donor countries’ stocks.
The 20 howitzers donated by the UK represented 20 percent of its stock, whereas the 126 cannons donated by the US represented only around five percent of its complement.
