Ukraine has become the largest recipient of US aid since World War II

Kyiv has received about $66.2 billion in U.S. military, financial and humanitarian aid since February 24 last year, the largest amount of support Washington has given to another country since World War II. About it informed The Washington Post, citing official data.

The newspaper cites data from American aid to other countries, for example, Israel received about $8.6 billion over the same period, Egypt – $3.3 billion, Jordan – $2.9 billion. It is noted that only $43 was sent to Ukraine for military needs, 1 billion

The total funding includes armaments, training, medical supplies, generators and refurbishment. Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the numbers are “outrageous” and compared them to the “Marshall Plan” when the US sent about $150 billion to 16 countries after the end of World War II.

At the same time, the newspaper notes that this is “quite small” in comparison with the US military budget for 2023, which is $1.77 trillion.

In addition to the United States, European countries provide military assistance to Ukraine. WP notes that the United States is in 12th place in the ranking of those supporting Ukraine in terms of the share of their GDP. The first places are occupied by the Baltic countries, where Estonia occupies the leading position (1.26% of GDP), followed by Latvia (1.09%) and Lithuania (0.95%). The list also includes Poland with 0.86%.

July 25 Pentagon informed on the allocation of another package of military assistance to Ukraine for $400 million, which included ammunition for the Patriot and NASAMS air defense systems, shells for the HIMARS missile system, Stinger anti-aircraft systems, etc. On July 7, the White House announced the transfer of cluster munitions to Ukraine. Washington said Ukraine had provided the United States with written assurances that the ammunition would be used “with care.”

At the end of June, the Council of the European Union approved an increase in the European Peace Fund (EPF) by 3.5 billion euros. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell explained that the fund has proved its worth since 2021 and has completely changed the approach to supporting partners in the field of defense. Taking into account the increase, the financial ceiling of the fund will be 12 billion euros.

The Russian authorities have repeatedly criticized the supply of Western weapons to the Ukrainian authorities. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, warned that pumping Ukraine with weapons brings NATO closer to the dangerous line of a direct military clash with Russia. The Kremlin, after the announcement of the transfer of cluster shells, said that if such weapons were used, Russia would be forced to take countermeasures.