Ukraine becomes biggest recipient of US aid since World War II

The US has provided more than $60 billion in financial assistance to Ukraine since the outbreak of hostilities, making Kyiv the biggest recipient of aid from Washington since World War II, when US allies received Marshall Plan reconstruction funds, according to The Washington Post after analyzing official data from the Pentagon and the US State Department, Report informs referring to TASS.

Ukraine has received more than $66.2 billion in aid from the US, of which more than $43 billion in direct military assistance, the newspaper notes. Washington sent Kyiv some $23.5 billion worth of military equipment from the Pentagon stockpiles, made long-term commitments to support Ukraine and finance $18 billion in arms production, provided subsidies for the purchase of Western weapons worth $1.5 billion. The US also allocated approximately $20.5 billion in economic aid and $2.6 billion in humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

These are outrageous numbers, Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution told the newspaper, reminding that under the Marshall Plan European countries received about $150 billion over three years.

The Washington Post elaborates that while the amount of aid to Ukraine is comparatively small in relation to the US military budget of $1.77 trillion, the amount remains impressive compared to the financial support that the US provides to other allies. For comparison, the US transferred $8.6 billion to Israel in 2022 and 2023, $3.3 billion to Egypt, and $2.9 billion to Jordan.

The largest donors of financial assistance to Kyiv in terms of GDP share were the Baltic countries. Estonia spent 1.26% of GDP to support Kyiv, Latvia - 1.09%, Lithuania - 0.95%. The US in this ranking is in 12th place and spends 0.33% of GDP on assistance to Ukraine.