Which countries provide the most, and least, support to Ukraine?

The disparity, he avers, justifies his demand that America should take control of an estimated $500bn-worth of rare-earth and other minerals in Ukraine—not as a means to ensure future support but as back payment for past assistance.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, retorted on February 18th that “financially and militarily, Europe has brought more to the table than anyone else. And we will step up." Who is right?

The most authoritative numbers are compiled regularly by the Kiel Institute, a German think-tank. Its latest report, published on February 14th, shows that European contributions—individually from governments and collectively from European institutions—outstrip America’s aid.

Start with the grand total (see chart 1 and 2). Countries worldwide have allocated €267bn ($280bn) in aid to Ukraine, or roughly €80bn per year. America remains the single most important donor by a wide margin but European countries, including the EU, have collectively surpassed its efforts, with €132bn in allocated aid compared with America’s €114bn (although America remains slightly ahead on military aid). Add other commitments yet to be delivered or specified and the gap grows yet wider. However, almost 90% of the financial aid from EU institutions has been in the form of loans (albeit with very generous terms). Roughly 60% of America’s financial aid is given as grants.

Our third chart shows how this has cumulated over time. European support has remained relatively stable since 2022, while American aid has been far more volatile. Its support slowed in 2023 and 2024 amid partisan wrangling in Congress, then picked up again with the passage of a new supplemental bill, and accelerated at the end of Joe Biden’s term.

Europe’s biggest donor is Germany, which has provided some €17bn (including financial, humanitarian and military aid and excluding what is channeled through EU donors). Britain is second, with €15bn, followed by Denmark (see chart 4). But Europe’s biggest economies have the capacity to do much more. Annual commitments by Germany and Britain, along with America, work out to just 0.2% of their GDPs. “Aid to Ukraine thus looks more like a minor political pet project rather than a major fiscal effort," concludes the Kiel report.

Indeed, in 1990 Germany allocated a greater share of its GDP to support Kuwait than it has for a war on Europe’s doorstep. Similarly, America committed significantly more money per year during the Korean, Vietnam and Iraq wars.

As a share of their output, the Baltic and Nordic states stand out (see chart 5). Estonia and Denmark, for example, have committed more than 2% of their pre-war GDP to supporting Ukraine in bilateral aid.

Generally speaking, the closer a country’s capital is to Russia, the higher its aid to Ukraine as a share of GDP (see chart 6). For example, Latvia and Lithuania—whose capitals are both less than 1,000km from Moscow—contributed 2% of their pre-war GDP. Japan, however, provides more bilateral aid than France, Italy and Spain in absolute terms and as a share of its GDP, despite being more than twice as distant from Moscow.

European leaders have been sent a clear message by the Trump administration: “Stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe," as the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, put it. European countries are already doing more than America to aid Ukraine. If America pulls further funding, they will need to do more still.

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