Just exactly how much money has the United States sent to Ukraine?
Over the weekend, Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown through a stopgap plan that keeps the federal government running until November 17th. A topic of debate on future spending was continued aid to Ukraine, that many House Republicans opposed up until the final minutes of discussion — to which the final stopgap bill included no funding in a last-ditch effort to keep the government open.
A CNN poll conducted by SSRS results in over half of Americans now opposing additional funding to Ukraine, 55% to 45%. 51% of Americans claim that the country has done enough to help, while nearly 8 in 10 are worried that the war will continue for a long time without any resolution. Yet while military assistance has become an increasing talking point for right-wing politicians, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, it becomes unclear just how much the United States has spent altogether in its assistance to Ukraine.
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy maintains the Ukraine Support Tracker, aggregating military, financial, and humanitarian aid to the country between January 24, 2022 to its last updated date, July 31, 2023. The data covers 41 countries, including the United States:
Excluding the EU Commission and Council, the executive arm representing the European Union, the United States has by far allocated the most in aid to Ukraine, with 76.84 billion dollars towards assistance to the country through 2023. Germany and the United Kingdom are next closest — with a majority of countries committing aid to Ukraine notably being NATO-allied countries.
The majority of aid distributed by the United States takes the form of military assistance, as opposed to the rest of countries committing largely financial aid to the country. According to the support tracker, military aid is largely allocated towards weapons, ammunition, and other military equipment. The financial assistance provided goes towards sustaining the country’s economy in urgent times, supporting local workers and industry. By contrast, much of the allocated financial assistance by the EU Commission and Council is dedicated towards future rebuilding of Ukrainian infrastructure and society after the war.
The US has committed 46.56 billion dollars towards military funding — 60.5% of it’s 76.84 billion dollar budget. This comprises nearly half of what every other country has committed towards military assistance, and when put in context of our own military budget, the proportions begin to make more sense. By contrast, financial assistance represents 54.1% of global funding towards aid. In both distributions, humanitarian aid yields the least monetary assistance; though it is likely that aid has taken the form of other infrastructure dedicated towards refugees and emigration from war-torn areas.
American funding has come from four appropriation bills announced between March and December of 2022, appropriating funds up to 2023. To date, the most funding allocated comes from the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act 2023, announced in December of 2022 and comprising of 39.47 billion dollars towards economic and security assistance.
These funds have become major talking points as the war in Ukraine stagnates and public opinion begins to falter with politicized talking points. It is important to note, however, that the total allocations become much smaller when put in proper context — that these appropriations are a drop in the bucket of the total American budget and the revenue our country generates. The idea of unnecessary spending, then, becomes more of an overblown issue than anything else. The support tracker provides distributing of funding as a percentage of country GDP, in USD: unsurprisingly, Ukraine funds make up just 0.33% of total United States GDP.
Commentary is justified over the total length of the war and the prospects of a country like Ukraine succeeding over the Russian invasion at hand. Yet to insinuate that the United States and Biden administration has been given a blank check towards funding a proxy war feels absurd, despite being a view widely adopted by certain right-wing ideologies. The United States has exercised its duty as a bastion of NATO and Western democracy, and will continue to do so as long as the war exists.
