Public opinion is deeply skeptical about European military support for Ukraine, highlighting concerns about corruption, misallocation of resources, and the ineffectiveness of such support in resolving the conflict. Many commenters feel that aid is not being used to address pressing domestic issues, and there's a prevalent feeling that diplomatic solutions would be more effective than military assistance.

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Disagree. The UK and France showed plenty of willingness to send troops into combat when they saw their interests were at stake - rightly or wrongly. France sent troops into Africa to combat terrorism and guerillas (yes, the French Foreign Legion most likely, but even so). UK sent troops into Iraq and Afghanistan (I know, I know, the former especially is not the best example, but it still shows - however wrongheaded - they're willing to fight). Also, look up The Falklands War (1982).

Socialism (more accurately, Social Democracy) has zero to do with aggression or lack thereof. ZERO.  The USSR was the "most socialist" nation on earth during WW2. And we all know how ferociously they fought.  By contrast, the highly capitalist USA tried to stay out of both world wars even when it was in retrospect in their best interest to do so - until they got attacked (Germany torpedoing one too many ships in WW1, Pearl Harbor and Hitler's declaration of war against the US in WW2).

Your post just reads like cheap anti-liberal demagoguery, especially when conflating liberalism with pacifism. It also smacks of the old "foreign immigrants" and "white genocide" tropes and all their ridiculousness.

filrabat

The Ukraine have had more than enough help, more than should ever have been offered.  Do I feel sorry for the people?  Of course.   But I also feel sorry for people in other conflicts around the world, where no help is received because there is no incentive to do so ie cash, oil, resources etc.  That is the only reason the Ukraine has had so much help.   They cannot win and there is no point in trying to think otherwise.

As to your point about Russia effectively commiting suicide by using nukes, are you crazy?  No one can stand against both Russia and their friends China.  No one.  

I'd rather funds went towards the protection of my own country, which is overrun with illegal immigrants who receive more money and more help than the country's own citizens and are repeatedly committing many crimes.

JoneseyP98

Shut up we’re finally getting a classic European invasion just like the olden days. Who knows maybe we’ll even go back to cavalry! Goooood tiiimes…

No-Designer2284

bingybong22

I think you are a coward  for not going on the Ukrainian front and saying Europe are cowards for not helping Ukraine with military support

Super_Swim_8540

I would not call Europe cowards for not helping Ukraine but the fact is Ukraine is a part of Eastern Europe. Out of every government in the world the one that should be aiding Ukraine the most should be Europe however they have abdicated that responsibility. While Russia will not attack Europe because of NATO the fact is that war does affect Europe as a whole. So, it is a little weird that Europe out of all governments have washed their hands of it.

GreatSoulLord

The war is just a form of white genocide. Russians and Ukrainians are the same ethnic group. OP please stop falling for the psy-op.

StatesRights2025

&gt;The reality is that Russia will not fire nukes at Europe.

You dont know that, nobody knows that, and nobody is going to try to put that to the test, take a gamble with hundreds of millions of people is incredibly stupid. He's already needlessly invaded a country, not sure why nukes would suddenly be off the table?

&gt; It would create a stalemate

Not sure about you, but i generally wouldn't call World War 3 a stalemate.


&gt;Europe is such a weak continent focused on socialist policies that are ruining their continent

The countries that are the most ''socialist'', scandinavia, are generally the best countries in the world to live in by so many aspects. Keep calling us weak while you're sippin red bull and 40% of your population go broke from medical bills.

&gt;No, we gotta provide healthcare to illegals!

You're super americanized on this topic lol, i dont think a single country in europe has a problem with illegal immigrants.

123kallem

There is nothing more cowardly than... *Checks notes* not starting WWIII

NoTicket84

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Does Europe have a choice? The cost of Russia spreading the war are by order of magnitude greater than the costs of helping Ukraine.

trisul-108

It's like europe is the parent and us is the adult child whos bills and taxes europe has to pay. this is stupid. if trump stopped sucking his own thumb and putin's balls, he could seriously damage russia.  
(sorry, i needed to rant)

ProudBook4118

What about the 300 billion dollars in frozen Russian assets.

_flying_otter_

We have to. We need to stay focussed on Ukraine and stop giving away our funds to countries that aren't European, because we have not an endless pit of money at our disposal.

GreenEyeOfADemon

Europe can. As always, the problem is not in the ability, but willingness. And let's be fair, there's no will to do *anything*. We're in self-induced coma.

Slusny_Cizinec

Europe has 12x the GDP of Russia. Stop with the USA wanking.

ziplock9000

EU bad. 

Should do more. 

Never satisfied. 

Give me upvotes /s 

Pretty insane how we have been able to upscale everything in such a fucking insane pace and people seems to treat it like its not enough. 

Must feel pretty pointless to do something as a politician when that's the narrative of the people if goal for parties is winning elections. 

Maybe that's the point of the comments trying to downplay all effort we put in.

qeadwrsf

Absolutely fantastic news. 

I see a lot of people in the comments bitching and moaning. 

To them i say, you are either knowingly or unknowingly spreading the narrative that countries, organisations and people's have chosen to use to tell and divide us and weaken us.

 They want us to be mad at Europe/EU, so we'll be too busy with that to be mad at the very people trying to destroy all we hold dear. 

Stop feeding into their nonsense. It's time to stand together and look forward, not backwards.

Quazz

This is only about military aid to Ukraine.

Reminding you that Trump administration didn't push any new aid package, and any military aid from US comes from the Biden era, so it's not difficult to surpass.

The US still produces tons of military technology, but most importantly, technology that is unavailable elsewhere.

I still don't understand the purpose of this attempted flex. 

Does this suggest we are not to blame for the disastrous outcome of the Ukraine war? Does it mean Ukraine will win, despite the lack of manpower to use the equipment we give?

pietralbi

Europe doing more to protect Europe than US. More on this breaking development at 11

Davywitt

An entire continent of some the richest and oldest civilizations in the world outpacing one country on the other side of the world with its own geopolitical struggles isn't the huge flex we think it is. What matters is if it helps Ukraine win the war.

TheoryOfDevolution

One-Reflection-4826

Missing from the headline is “for the first time”.

djingo_dango

Perseiii

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Whatcanyado420

Unfortunately, due to the slow drip of weapons. It seems like there arent enough ukranian soldiers to even use all of them

Reitter3

The purpose of the Ukraine War is the same as WW2 : it is for both USA and USSR to destroy Europe.

__brice

This is unfortunate. Republicans have, once again, put the US on the wrong side of history.

On the other hand, we clearly need to be self-sufficient. This is the way.

macholusitano

This should have happened 3 years ago. But congrats, I guess?

Zwiebel1

It only took what ? Almost 4 years ? Victory for europe !!  We would all be dead by now if china as supllying russia .

Public-Educational



Although Europe’s combined clout has consolidated to buttress Ukraine, the U.S. nonetheless remains the single largest donor. Its combined total is nearly twice that of the second-largest donor, the European Union, which has provided €60.5 billion ($70.9 billion) in financial aid and €2.7 billion ($3.2 billion) in humanitarian assistance.

StrikingExcitement79

I'm not an expert when it comes to the EU, so just wanted to ask to see if someone knows more on this than I do. Why does the plan to send weapons to Ukraine have to go through the EU, where Hungary can vote it down?

If you want to send artillery rounds to Ukraine, send them. Get together with some other countries on a one off basis and agree to a plan for how many rounds to send. Why is there a need to go through the EU and allow Hungary to vote it down, when they probably weren't going to contribute to the plan in the first place?

CLCchampion

Europe's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, had high hopes of being able to mobilize as much as €40 billion of military aid to shore up Ukraine's position on the battlefield and strengthen its hand in upcoming talks with Russia.

But as EU leaders wound up their gathering in Brussels on Thursday, the plan lay in tatters — not quite dead, but dramatically downgraded from its original ambition.

The problems started, several EU diplomats said, from the plan's inception when the former Estonian prime minister failed to win prior buy-in from crucial stakeholders. The process had been "botched up," one of the diplomats summarized.

The original formulation of the "Kallas plan" had been to ship Ukraine at least 1.5 million rounds of artillery ammunition in 2025. That idea, presented last month, was shot down by a Hungarian veto. Then she tried again, banking on a coalition of willing states to dig into their weapons stores and national coffers to deliver up to €40 billion in military aid to Ukraine this year.

Unfortunately for Kallas — and for Ukraine — her plan didn't survive impact with the reality of a European Union where interest in making sacrifices for Kyiv varies dramatically from country to country.

Southern nations — much further from the Russian threat — are less eager than those in the east or the north. But in the end, even France, the bloc's biggest military power, balked at giving a thumbs-up to the aid package.

But despite being significantly downsized from her original ambition, even this effort has so far failed to garner sufficient support.

Kallas' attempt to salvage her plan by reducing its scope came after ambassadors from France, Italy and Slovakia delivered a blow on Wednesday, stressing that the plan should only call on countries to contribute on a "voluntary basis," thereby reducing pressure to participate.

The problem was not just that some countries simply don't want to give more to Ukraine, mentioning budget issues, or that others prefer to deliver their aid bilaterally. It was also that before presenting her plan and asking member states to put more money on the table, Kallas failed to properly consult them.

Another key error was not lining up support from key countries like France, as well as top officials like Bjorn Seibert, the powerful aide to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, according to three EU diplomats.

Kallas' failure to push through her plan underlines the difficulty of corralling all 27 countries in a common direction.

Themetalin

I remember just less than a month ago I saw Europeans say that Europe can manage to assist Ukraine without help from the US just fine. It seems reality hit them hard this time.

Wyvz

Why so much hate for the USA on r/Europe when it looks like the countries next door aren’t stepping up?

LukasJackson67

They mostly talk and think that Putin is going to get scared.

pitotorP

It was expected. All this posturing we will send soldiers, we will send money doesn’t mean anything without US backing.

AIM-120-AMRAAM

Now the European countries that are sending large amounts of aid to Ukraine know what it feels like to be the sucker. How it can be like pulling teeth getting some European nations to pony up for their own defense.

GrizzledFart

I guess the EU does need the US when it comes to military operations. It's also news like this that makes me doubt they can create a federated state or army

WhatAreYouSaying05

&gt;  It was also that before presenting her plan and asking member states to put more money on the table, Kallas failed to properly consult them.

This is the thing

I think Kaja Kallas was just inexperienced in these issues

They will figure something out

raverbashing

I wouldn’t read too much into this, this is their first try to do it on their own. They’re going to learn from it, and if necessary, the countries invested in Ukraine will do it on their own or outside EU framework.

random-gyy

This is why the EU will never be taken seriously on the world stage. For all the tough talk after Trump snubbed Zelensky and mocks European leaders, he's not totally wrong.

TWAndrewz

This is why the EU plans to resist Putin and build parallel institutions fail without the US and Trump. It would be nice if the EU had the strength and coordination to aid Ukraine on their own sans Trump but they haven’t. Classic case of building the plane as they are taking off. Build up EU defense institutions in the background and make up with Trump, its a lot fewer steps

arock121

Why is Hungary so desperate to have a border with Russia?

Stendecca

Why don't they just give them the money from frozen russian assets which amount to 300 billion dollars?

BeginningRevolution9

Serious question: what is the point of sending weapons to Ukraine? There is no way for Ukraine to get its territories back. There is no unified european political leadership that could command a european army in a war against Russia. There is also no way to defeat, threaten or deterr Russia as it has over 5000 nukes. What is the plan here? Should Ukraine just keep fighting forever with no obtainable goal in sight?

What ever happened to diplomacy? There is no winning this war at this point.

geppetto91

This all started in 2022 as a bilateral deal between the US and Ukraine, with the US as the main funder of the war and using Ukraine as a proxy to destroy the Russian military. The US wasn’t happy with their behaviour, including what had happened in Syria. They wanted them checked. 

Then subsequent bilateral agreements followed. The British had reason after the Novichok attack. 

Most militaries in Europe, and Canada, are so depleted on military equipment and ammunition that they simply cannot donate large quantities to Ukraine. And Ukraine have a military largely incapable of planning and executing large scale operations so they’re burning through whatever is donated to them.

Altaccount330

Europe's announcements to be able to do it without US is looking bleak. Its not that Europe does not have the money. Its just so hard to manage so many things to come together to be able to pull it off. I really wonder how the nitty gritty details of a European army will come along.

Following a recent summit, 26 countries pledged military support to Ukraine, aiming to secure peace and stability following the conflict with Russia.

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