Europe faces pressure to increase aid to Ukraine

As aid stalls in the US Congress and questions arise on how former President Donald Trump would handle Ukraine if re-elected, there is growing pressure on Europe to help with financial assistance for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

With the second anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine approaching, the Kiel Institute for World Economy shows that the US, Germany, the UK, Denmark, and Norway are the top five countries respectively contributing financially to Ukraine.

Japan, the Netherlands, Canada, Poland, and Sweden round out the top 10 in that order, according to data from January 2022 to January 2024.

Earlier this month, the US Senate passed with bipartisan support a $95.3 billion foreign aid bill, which includes $60 billion to Ukraine, but it has not yet passed the House.

And on February 10, Trump said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO member country that doesn’t meet spending guidelines on defense in a stunning admission he would not abide by the collective-defense clause at the heart of the alliance if reelected.

“Europe will have to at least double its current military support efforts in case there is no further support from the United States.

“This is a challenge, but ultimately a question of political will,” said Christoph Trebesch, head of the Research Center International Finance and Macroeconomics at the Kiel Institute said in a press release on February 16.

Trebesch said that “EU countries are among the richest in the world and so far they have spent not even 1 percent of their 2021 GDP to support Ukraine.”

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