According to the EU Commission, the European Union has supported Ukraine with around 88 billion euros since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression – financially, humanitarian and military. At a summit in Brussels, the heads of state and government agreed on an additional 50 billion euro package for the years 2024 to 2027, which is intended to ensure the financing of Ukrainian state institutions in a more predictable manner than before.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has earned the displeasure of many of his EU colleagues for his pro-Kremlin policies and who doubts Kiev’s long-term military defense capability, refused to support EU-Ukraine aid in December. Because the European Union is striving for unity, the support of all 27 EU states had to be secured at a special EU summit this Thursday.
88 billion euros for Ukraine
According to current information from the EU Commission, the EU as a whole – that is, the European Union and its member states as well as the EU financial institutions – has so far made 88 billion euros available to Ukraine. Of this, 43.3 billion euros were spent on financial and budgetary support for Ukraine and on humanitarian aid. 28 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine were spent separately by the EU and member states, of which 6.1 billion euros came from the so-called “European Peace Facility”. This EU financing instrument was created before the start of the war in Ukraine to provide military support to partner countries. A further 17 billion euros were made available by the EU states in support services for Ukrainian displaced persons.
The 50 billion euro support for Kiev decided by the EU special summit serves to maintain the Ukrainian state in the form of financial aid and loans. 17 billion euros are earmarked as grants and 33 billion euros as loans. In addition, this new “facility” for Ukraine is intended to initiate a specific investment framework for the country. This plan also includes technical and legal assistance to enforce international law against Russia.
Supplementary budget for 2024
In the first year of Russia’s war of aggression in 2022, the EU supported Kiev with 11.5 billion euros from the EU budget. In 2023, this aid already amounted to 19.5 billion euros. For 2024, the aid must be specified in a supplementary budget.
According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), EU countries continued to catch up with promised military aid at the end of 2023 and have now overtaken the USA as a donor. Germany and the Nordic countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland) in particular have promised significant new aid in recent months. Of the total of 25 billion euros in commitments for heavy weapons from January 2022 to October 2023, 43 percent will go to the USA and 47 percent to all EU countries and institutions combined.
The newly promised aid to Kiev nevertheless reached a low between August and October 2023 – according to the IfW, it fell by almost 90 percent compared to the same period in 2022. That’s why Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to pressure the EU partners to make higher bilateral contributions. According to the IfW, the largest donor of military aid to Kiev is still the USA with a total volume of the equivalent of 44 billion euros. However, Germany caught up with military commitments worth over 17 billion euros.
