US arms supplies to Ukraine<\/p>\n
Throughout all of July, Europe\u2019s six largest countries offered Ukraine no new bilateral military commitments, according to new data \u2014 the first month that had happened since Russia invaded in February.<\/p>\n
The revelation is a sign that despite historic shifts in European defense policy \u2014 which have seen once reluctant countries like France and Germany ship arms to Ukraine \u2014\u00a0military aid to Ukraine may be waning just as Kyiv launches a crucial counteroffensive.<\/p>\n
The fresh data, set for release on Thursday, comes from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which has been maintaining a Ukraine Support Tracker<\/a> throughout the war. It illustrates a point Ukrainian military officials and politicians have been repeatedly making: That major European powers are not keeping up with the military aid coming from the U.K., Poland and the U.S. Military specialists and some members of European Parliament have increasingly echoed the point recently.<\/p>\n Christoph Trebesch, head of the team compiling the Ukraine Support Tracker<\/a>, said the organization\u2019s data showed European military aid commitments for Ukraine have been on a downward trend since the end of April.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite the war entering a critical phase, new aid initiatives have dried up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Western allies did meet last week in Cophenhagen to gather pledges<\/a> for boosting Ukraine\u2019s military, amassing \u20ac1.5 billion in commitments. But Trebesch, who said his team is still analyzing the numbers, cautioned the figure \u201cis meager compared to what was raised in earlier conferences.\u201d<\/p>\n Trebesch argued that European countries should be considering the Ukraine war as more akin to the eurozone crisis or the coronavirus pandemic, two events that promoted the Continent to funnel hundreds of billions into emergency funding measures.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you compare the speed at which the checkbook came out and the size of the money that was delivered, compared to what is on offer for Ukraine, it is tiny in comparison,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Trebesch pointed to the EU\u2019s pandemic recovery fund, which spans roughly \u20ac800 billion in loans and grants. Overall European aid to Ukraine thus far is a small fraction of that.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say it surprisingly little considering what is at stake,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks recently told POLITICO that countries like France and Germany must do more for Ukraine\u2019s fight against Russia.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we are wanting the war to end as soon as possible, they need to ask themselves, are they doing enough?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Pabriks called for European nations to give proportionally at a level similar to several Central European countries, pointing specifically to Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n Former Estonian defense chief Riho Terras, now a European Parliament member, said Europe needs \u201cto wake up,\u201d arguing there will be no peace until victory against Russia.<\/p>\n \u201cHundreds are dying every day, not just soldiers but women and children,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople don\u2019t really understand, we are at war.\u201d<\/p>\n