Military aid to Ukraine: Europe gives more, widening gap with US
Europe again increased its military aid to Ukraine in May and June, unlike the United States, and is depending increasingly on its defense industry rather than existing weapons stockpiles, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy said Tuesday.
Europe, the United Kingdom included, sent or earmarked a total of 80.5 billion euros ($93.7 billion) in military aid between the start of the war in February 2022 and the end of June 2025 against 64.6 billion euros allocated by the United States.
The Germany-based Institute's data shows that the overall European military aid had outstripped the United States in the spring for the first time since June 2022.
"A significant proportion of the weapons provided no longer comes from stockpiles but is procured directly through the defense industry," the institute said.
"This means that Europe now also leads the U.S. in terms of total volume of military aid provided through industry since the start of the war."
Taro Nishikawa, a project lead at the research body's Ukraine Support Tracker, said it was "a clear indication of the expanding role of defense manufacturing in military assistance."
In May and June, Europe earmarked 10.5 billion euros of military aid to Ukraine: Germany put up a package of five billion euros, followed by Norway with 1.5 billion euros and Belgium with 1.2 billion euros.
The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Denmark each earmarked between 500 and 600 million euros.
At least 4.6 billion euros of the European military aid, or 44 percent of the overall amount in May and June, is set to be channeled through procurement contracts, mainly with Europe-based defense firms, notably based in Ukraine, the Kiel Institute said.
Over the same period, Washington approved major exports of arms to Ukraine in May but not in the form of military aid under the Kiel Institute's definition because they have to be paid for by Ukraine itself.
The United States was the main provider of aid to Ukraine before Donald Trump's return to the White House on January 20, 2025 when he broke with his Democrat predecessor Joe Biden's Ukraine support strategy.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance told the conservative news channel Fox News, in an interview broadcast on Sunday, that he believed Washington had now ended its financial support for Ukraine.
"But if the Europeans want to step up and actually buy the weapons from American producers, we are okay with that," he said.
Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet in Alaska on Friday to reach, according to the U.S. president, a possible agreement on exchanging territory to bring an end to the war in Ukraine sparked by the Russian invasion more than three years ago.
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