As the war in Ukraine enters its third year, our efforts to secure Ukraine’s future are tracking the conflict with timely analysis and policy recommendations.
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Each year, the United States sends billions of dollars in aid to recipients around the world, far more than any other country, to pursue security, economic, and humanitarian interests.
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Since Russia invaded in February 2022, Ukraine has become by far the top recipient of U.S. foreign aid. This is the first time a European country has held the top spot since the Harry S. Truman administration spent millions of dollars rebuilding the continent through the Marshall Plan after World War II.
How much money did the US give to Ukraine?
Since the war began, the U.S. Congress has passed five bills providing continued aid to Ukraine, most recently in April 2024. The total budget authority under these bills (the “headline” figure often cited by news media) is $175. Billion. The historic sum supports a wide range of Ukrainian people and institutions, including refugees, law enforcement and an independent radio station, but most of the aid is military-related. Dozens of other countries, including most members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU), have also provided large aid packages to Ukraine.
It is important to note that out of a total of $175 billion, only $106 billion directly supports the Ukrainian government. The bulk of the remainder funds various U.S. activities related to the Ukraine war, with some supporting other affected countries in the region.
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The bulk of the aid bill will be spent in the United States, paying American factories and workers producing various weapons, and these weapons will either be sent to Ukraine or used to build up U.S. weapons inventories procured by the Pentagon during the war. used to replenish. An analysis by the American Enterprise Institute found that Ukrainian aid is funding defense manufacturing in more than 70 U.S. cities.
Why is the US providing aid to Ukraine?
Much of the U.S. aid is dedicated to providing weapons systems, training and intelligence that Ukrainian commanders need to defend against Russia, which has one of the world’s most powerful militaries. Most Western analysts point out that military aid provided by the United States and other allies played a vital role in defending Ukraine and pushing back against Russia.
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Leaders of the United States and its allies consider the Russian invasion a brutal and illegal war of aggression on NATO borders that, if successful, would result in the subjugation of millions of Ukrainians. Encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin’s revivalist goals. And it would invite similar invasions from other rival powers, especially China.
But many Ukraine supporters and some Ukrainian officials criticize the United States and other donor countries for delays in delivering critical weapons and for Western restrictions on how Ukraine can use those weapons. I’m blaming. These critics argue that these delays hampered Ukraine’s fighting ability and allowed Russia to regain control of the battlefield and retake territory along the Eastern Front.
What kind of weapons and equipment did the US send to Ukraine?
NATO allies are especially wary of becoming directly involved in hostilities that could dramatically increase the risk of nuclear war. But as the fighting progressed, many donor governments became reluctant to provide Ukraine with more sophisticated assets, such as tanks and modern fighter jets. In the summer of 2023, the United States agreed to allow European allies to provide Ukraine with American-made F-16s. The first transfer of several of these advanced fighter jets took place in late July, with Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway collectively pledging to transfer more than 60 of the aircraft to Ukraine.
More than two and a half years into the war, President Joe Biden’s administration has provided or agreed to provide Ukraine with a vast list of defense capabilities, including Abrams tanks, anti-aircraft missiles, artillery shells, cluster munitions, and coastal weapons. . Defense ships, advanced surveillance and radar systems.
The Biden administration reportedly began supplying a significant number of long-range precision missiles to Ukraine in early 2024, known as ATACMS, capable of hitting targets nearly 200 miles (322 kilometers) away. However, the United States, concerned that such attacks could escalate, has restricted Ukraine from using these and other long-range American weapons against targets inside Russia. The administration has reportedly eased some of those conditions in recent months and is considering broader shifts in U.S. policy. Biden said in September that he would provide Ukraine with joint standoff weapons, long-range weapons also known as “glider bombs.”
How does aid to Ukraine compare to aid to other U.S. recipient countries?
The extraordinary scale of this aid becomes clear when compared with U.S. aid to other major donors in recent years.
Looking back over the past few decades, aid to Ukraine also ranks among the largest compared to the size of the U.S. economy at the time.
However, the scale of US aid to Ukraine is compared to the annual budget of the Department of Defense and the amount authorized by the Treasury Department (through the Troubled Asset Relief Program) to bail out Wall Street banks, auto companies, etc. , it may not seem that noteworthy. Economic sectors during the US financial crisis.
How does U.S. aid to Ukraine compare to aid from other donor countries?
The scale of U.S. aid stands out when compared to the significant assistance provided to Ukraine by other countries.
However, many European governments make larger financial contributions to Ukraine relative to the size of their economies.
Over the past two years, 30 countries, led by the United States, Germany and Poland, have made large-scale arms transfers to Ukraine. Almost all are wealthy democracies.
