Europe has fulfilled only half of its promised commitments to aid Ukraine – Bloomberg columnist

The volume of military, financial and humanitarian aid provided to Ukraine by Europe lags behind the promises. Of the promised 241 billion euros, only 125 billion have actually been provided. This was written in his article by Bloomberg columnist Mark Champion , reports UNN.

Details 

Champion recalled that since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany has been implementing a project that tracks humanitarian, financial and military aid – the one that Ukraine’s allies have pledged to provide and, separately, have provided.

The latest update, published earlier this month, showed that as of the end of October, Europe had allocated an impressive 241 billion euros (253 billion dollars) to support Ukraine, compared to 119 billion euros for the USA.

As the article states, the Biden administration is rushing to use up all the remaining aid at its disposal before Trump’s inauguration.

Earlier this month, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised to provide an additional 650 million euros for high-tech air defense systems “Iris-T” and “Patriot” that are to be delivered by the end of the year.

The most disappointing is the huge gap between what Europe has promised and what has actually been delivered, which is estimated to be only 125 billion euros. Part of this difference is explained by the fact that 52 billion euros of Europe’s promises were made only this fall, when the mechanism for using frozen Russian assets as collateral for loans to Ukraine was finally approved. However, even in these circumstances, Europe still has a debt of 64 billion euros

According to the columnist, Ukraine’s allies continue to adhere to the “as much as needed” strategy, rather than the strategy of what and when is needed.

Champion notes that it is difficult to determine whether Putin would have resorted to a nuclear strike in Ukraine if the US and other NATO members had provided Ukraine with long-range artillery, tanks and F-16s earlier, before Russia had time to mobilize its forces or fortify its positions. “However, among the many reasons for Ukraine’s current problems with recruitment and retention of personnel is the sense that Western support – and therefore the weapons and ammunition needed to survive on the front lines, let alone win – are becoming increasingly scarce,” the columnist writes.

This is not about providing Kyiv with potentially provocative new categories of weapons. Some of what Ukraine needs will have to be obtained from Western stockpiles and Western manufacturers, such as the air defense systems promised by Scholz. But the rest can be produced by the domestic defense industry.

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