President Donald Trump’s return to the White House has upended America’s role in the war between Ukraine and Russia.
Throughout his presidential campaign and continuing at the start of his second term, Trump has promised to end the war. And in early February 2025, he indicated he wanted access to Ukraine’s rare earth materials industry in exchange for American aid – a deal originally floated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Around that time, Trump wrote on his social media platform that the Russia-Ukraine war “MUST and WILL END SOON,” noting that the U.S. has spent billions of dollars “with little to show.”
But after a televised Oval Office meeting on Feb. 28 that saw Trump and Vice President JD Vance raising their voices at and arguing with Zelenskyy, the potential natural resources deal was put on hold. The Trump administration subsequently halted military aid for Ukraine in another sign of the increasingly frayed relationship. The pause was reportedly lifted when Ukraine agreed to a 30-day ceasefire on March 11, pending Russia’s acceptance as well.
The U.S., however, is just one among many countries that have supported Ukraine since the lead-up to Russia’s escalated invasion, which began three years ago in February 2022.
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A Timeline of the Russia-Ukraine ConflictGlobal aid to Ukraine since 2022 has reached a staggering 400 billion euros committed as of December 2024, or about $430 billion, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. The group is trying to keep up with all of the commitments in its Ukraine Support Tracker, which keeps tabs on government-to-government transfers of military, financial and humanitarian aid into Ukraine. The Germany-based institute also tracks allocations, which it as aid earmarked and/or specified for delivery in the near term.
The majority of committed support by country has come from the United States, whose total aid commitment is valued at about $128 billion. The U.S. is followed by the United Kingdom and Germany for highest commitments overall. The European Union as a whole has committed approximately $124 billion in aid to Ukraine.
The types of aid committed vary by country. The U.S. is flexing its military might, committing weapons and equipment valued at close to $71 billion – the most among countries and more than three times as much as Germany, which has promised the next-highest amount of military aid.
The institute estimates the individual commitments of EU members by using each country’s contributions to the overall EU budget and shares in the European Investment Bank. Much of that European aid is financial support rather than military assistance.
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The U.S. leads with the highest total amount of humanitarian aid among countries, followed closely by Germany. But the conflict is “increasingly dictated by weapons production,” Christoph Trebesch, head of the Ukraine Support Tracker and the research director at the Kiel Institute, said in a statement.
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Why Did Russia Invade Ukraine?“Russia’s war against Ukraine has become a war of procurement and weapons production,” Trebesch said. “It is thus crucial to build up industrial capacity for defense production – especially in Europe. The best way to do so is by pan-European cooperation.”
The Ukraine Support Tracker team noted that western countries have provided a “continuous flow” of aid to Ukraine – following almost “a linear trend” – but Europe has “clearly overtaken” the U.S. as the top source of aid at this point. If additional American aid stalls under Trump, “European governments will be asked to step up their efforts and fill the large gap left,” Trebesch added.
While big, wealthy countries can afford to provide more in absolute terms, smaller countries are making significant offerings of their own. In fact, relative to each country’s gross domestic product as of 2021, the countries near Ukraine are providing the most support, with Denmark, Estonia and Norway having committed the most aid relative to their total economic output.
The U.S. has committed 0.55% of its GDP toward Ukraine aid, which falls below the percentages committed by Germany (1.31%), the U.K. (0.93%) and Canada (0.67%).
Outside of the U.S. and Europe, other significant contributors include Japan and South Korea. The tracker doesn’t include private donations, or help from international organizations like the Red Cross, due to a “lack of comparable and reliable data,” according to the institute.
