This month marks the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-on invasion of Ukraine. While some predicted a quick fall of Kyiv, the Ukrainian people have courageously battled on, with U.S. military aid playing a key role in balancing the scales. Here are Five Facts about U.S. support for Ukraine’s battle for freedom one year in.
1.The US has provided $76.8 billion in aid to Ukraine over the first year of the conflict.
Since Russia launched its offensive last winter, America has sent Ukraine $76.8 billion in military and non-military aid to defend their homeland. The Council on Foreign Relations reports that it is the first time that a European country has been the top recipient of U.S. foreign aid since the Marshall Plan to rebuild post-war Europe.
2.The US ranks fifth in total foreign aid to Ukraine when accounting for the size of each country’s economy.
The U.S. has far outpaced its allies in providing aid to Ukraine due to its world-leading economic strength. But adjusting for the size of each country’s gross domestic product (GDP) reveals that the biggest pound-for-pound contributors to the Ukrainian war effort are nearby countries like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Estonia, for example, has spent more than 1% of its GDP on supporting Ukraine, while the U.S. has spent only about 0.4% of its GDP in aid.
3.Most of the American public supports continuing to provide military aid to Ukraine.
A majority of Americans remain committed to supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression, but some war-weariness has set in – compared to an April 2022 poll, public support for military aid to Ukraine has fallen by 21%, from 73% to 58%.
4.20% of Americans say the US isn’t sending enough aid, while 26% say the US is sending too much.
Pew has found that the percentage of Americans who believe the U.S. is sending too much aid to Ukraine has steadily risen as the war has dragged on. Current polling shows that 40% of Republicans and 26% of Americans overall believe that we are sending too much aid to Kyiv. In comparison, last March 49% of Republicans and 46% of all Americans thought the U.S. wasn’t sending enough aid to Ukraine.
5.Current US aid for Ukraine will likely be exhausted by the summer.
Congress approved the most recent Ukraine aid package, an injection of funding totaling $45 billion, in December 2022. A report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that Ukraine has spent U.S. aid at a rate of roughly $6.7 billion per month, meaning that the money provided in that legislation will be fully used up by mid-July.
