EU ‘must double aid’
UKRAINE: US LEAVES GAP AFTER TURNING OFF FUNDING TAPS – INSTITUTE
The European Union (EU) will have to double its military support to Ukraine to fill a gap left by the United States after months of blockage of new aid by Congress, a research institute that monitors assistance said yesterday.
With existing funding having already dried up, Republicans in the US House of Representatives are blocking authorising $60 billion (about R1.1 trillion) in new military aid despite Ukrainian commanders and Western officials have said in recent days that Ukrainian troops are running out of ammunition.
“It is uncertain whether the US will send further military aid in 2024,” the German-based Kiel Institute said in a report on the state of play of military, financial and humanitarian aid to the war-battered country since the Russian invasion on 24 February, 2022.
According to its data up to 15 January, 2024, the United States has sent €42.2 billion in military aid to Ukraine between February 2022 and December 2023, at a rate of around €2 billion a month.
The EU and its 27 members have promised €49.7 billion of military aid since the start of the war, but have delivered or earmarked just €35.2 billion.
“Europe will have to at least double its current military support efforts in case there is no further support from the United States,” said Christoph Trebesch, head of the Ukraine Support Tracker and Research Director at the Kiel Institute.
“This is a challenge, but just a question of political will. The EU countries are among the richest in the world and so far they have spent not even one percent of their 2021 GDP to support Ukraine.”
A total of €265.1 billion has been pledged to Ukraine since February 2022, of which €141.3 billion in financial aid, €107.5 billion is in military aid and €16.3 billion in humanitarian aid.
The EU and its member states are the biggest donors with €144.1 billion, the United States with €67.7 billion and the United Kingdom €15.7 billion.
But there is a big gap between pledges and money shelled out, especially in the case of the EU, which has so far only allocated €77.2 billion. This is because the bloc’s pledges are spread over several years.
The halt in US military aid to Ukraine comes as the 2024 presidential election gears up as Donald Trump appears set to cruise to the Republican party nomination.
Trump opposes helping Ukraine’s fight against Russia and recently used his sway to kill a US border reform Bill that would have also authorised additional aid to Ukraine.
A return of Trump to power in 2025 would sound the death knell for US aid to Ukraine, experts say.
Europe has also been plagued by divisions over Ukraine.
Hungarian leader Viktor Orban for months blocked authorising an additional €50 billion of aid for Ukraine over four years, relenting only earlier this month.
In Slovakia, new populist Prime Minister Robert Fico in November fulfilled promises made during his election campaign and blocked a major arms delivery planned by his predecessor.
The West’s weapons contributions have evolved along with the situation on the battlefield, morphing from tens of thousands of light weapons after the invasion to helicopters and howitzers, and then to sophisticated Western tanks including American Abrams, British Challengers and German Leopards. –