European Support For Ukraine Steady As U.S. Aid Fades, Data Shows

EUROPE continues to offer Ukraine a high level of support, while recent data showed that assistance from the United States vanished in May and June.

A German economic institute reported on Tuesday.

The report said the Ukraine Support Tracker from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) showed that European aid amounted to 12.6 billion euros (14.6 billion dollars) in the two-month period, while no support came from the U.S.

The European aid is lower than in the preceding months of March and April, the IfW noted, when support had increased sharply to 19.9 billion euros, according to updated figures.

That was partly to compensate for the absence of aid from the U.S.

The IfW tracks military, financial and humanitarian aid.

The data collection began on 24 January 2022, one month before Russia’s full-scale, illegal invasion of its neighbour.

The data includes more than 40 countries, including EU member states, the U.S. and Japan, as well as support coming directly from the European Union.

Sources for the data are government agencies and media reports.

Increasing deliveries from industry

The institute’s researchers noted that military aid is increasingly being organised through contracts with arms manufacturers.

In such cases, goods did not need to be taken from existing stockpiles.

“Military aid to Ukraine is increasingly determined by the capacity of the defence industry,” the project leader, Taro Nishikawa, said in a statement.

Of the military aid allocated in May and June, which amounted to approximately 10.5 billion euros, at least 4.6 billion euros is expected to flow into contracts with arms manufacturers, according to IfW Kiel.

The contracts primarily went to companies in Europe and Ukraine.

(dpa/NAN)