Fact check: Berlin – Washington – Kiev
The reality is that the USA has spent between 119.7 billion dollars (Kiel Institute for the World Economy) and 182.8 billion dollars (US Department of Defence).
105.1 billion dollars have gone directly to the Ukrainian government:
- 2 billion dollars for humanitarian aid
- 33.3 billion dollars for budget support
- 69.8 billion dollars for weapons, equipment and other military support
(Council on Foreign Relations, BBC News, Euronews, US Special Inspector General for Operation Atlantic Resolve)
The remainder will go towards US activities related to the war and support for other affected countries in the region.
The highest sum of 182.8 billion dollars also includes:
- US military spending on training and replenishing its own stockpiles.
(Council on Foreign Relations, BBC News)
Of the 182.8 billion dollars, :
83.4 billion dollars disbursed, no more.
99.4 billion dollars have not yet been authorised or spent.
So Ukraine has only received 76 billion dollars from the USA so far.
(Euronews).
Should Washington disagree, they would have to document this.
In comparison, according to the Kiel Institute, the EU has spent 138.7 billion dollars on military, financial and humanitarian aid for Ukraine, compared to 119.7 billion dollars by the USA.
Added to this are the special payments made by Germany:
- Germany has so far paid €34 billion for the accommodation of 1.2 million Ukrainian refugees.
- 15 billion euros, including 11 billion euros in military aid, over 3 billion euros in humanitarian aid and just under 1.5 billion euros in financial aid.
3) Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression, Germany has transferred material from the Bundeswehr’s stocks to Ukraine with an estimated replacement value of around 5.2 billion euros.
- thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have also received military training in Germany. The costs for this training have so far totalled around 282 million euros. Other expenses that are not quantified by the German government are the costs for the treatment of wounded Ukrainian soldiers.
This means that, in addition to payments from other EU countries and the EU, around €55bn comes from Germany
The United Kingdom is the third largest supporter of Ukraine with €14.75 billion in aid.
In a broader calculation, EU aid totals 198 billion dollars.
(BBC News, Washington Post, Fox News)
According to NATO, almost 60% of Ukraine’s aid has come from Europe and Canada.
(ABC News, BBC News). This does not include the cost of refugees and medical treatment.
A large part of the weapons that the USA supplies to Ukraine consists of old or surplus material that would otherwise have to be disposed of, i.e. material for the rubbish bin.
This means that the USA incurs hardly any costs for disposal.
In addition, a large proportion of the aid to Ukraine is spent in the USA, e.g. on the production of new defence equipment to replenish stocks. This secures US jobs.
In this respect, Washington should also return to reality.
