Public sentiment regarding military aid to Ukraine is sharply divided and largely negative, with significant concerns about the financial burden on American taxpayers and domestic neglect. A variety of comments express skepticism over the effectiveness and motivations behind U.S. support, while some advocate for increased aid due to moral obligations against Russian aggression. This division highlights a clash between international commitment and pressing domestic issues.

U.S. Government

Ukraine

NATO

Russian Government

Kiel Institute methodology is consistent but since it's based on official declarations it's at best A source not THE source. 

There is a lot of stuff not officially published or published with significant delays. Poland updated declarations last month but those still miss stuff that was seen in Ukraine 2 years ago in battle. 

Did it actually drop or was it just classified?  How are counted the joint deals where Ukraine provides drone know-how and other countries funding and production capacity? They are not really aid but in the end Ukraine receives money and materiel out of them.

old_faraon

What we fail to support now will come back to us later, just as it did in the years before.

Chromber

European NATO is supposed to spend 3.5% of GDP on defense and 1.5% of GDP on infrastructure. Is aid to Ukraine included in that 3.5%?

unlearned2

This report is amateur at best, they havent updated Italy's military aid in 2 years, the vice president of the Ukrainian Rada said it stands at 4.2 billion € in military aid, Czechia is reported to have given 700 million € in military aid in the tank and air defence reports but then its given as 60 millions in military aid in the total military aid report, it values 13 UK air defence systems at 0€ euro

Its a mess, its basically disinformaition.

edit:corrected the czech figure to 340 million €, still below what tge rest of the page says, almost double that, 573 million €

ExplosivePancake9

EU leadership vacuum is depressing.  I'm dreading the next round of elections.

granitehammock

This shows how little we actually notice behind the scenes. I keep reading everywhere that support is being massively increased, Russia is close to being knocked out by the oil strikes, etc. If Putin knows that our support has been scaled back, which is to be expected, then I'm not surprised that he has no interest in negotiations.

Shoxxx91

Does “military aid” refer to equipment supplied here?

Because as far as I know, Europe has recently been increasingly moving towards financing domestic arms production in Ukraine.

And unfortunately, the data from the Kiel Institute is no longer particularly helpful in getting the full picture, because many countries no longer release information on arms deliveries.

Schnorch

atallatallatall

But Reddit told me everything was going fine for Ukraine?

Some-Jellyfish-7412

Certainly a worrying outlook, but declarations are incomplete - our new beloved Chancellor Merz for example decided to simply not publish anything anymore, if I were to guess it was to stop people pestering him to deliver Taurus missiles.

Additionally, the war effort has shifted away from tank battles and even artillery is nothing more than crude area denial. It's mostly missiles and drones these days.

On the practical side, a lot of the aid sent was stockpiles and old Soviet era shit. That's all dried up now and we don't have the industrial base to manufacture more goods.

mschuster91

Родина Трампів взяла стільки грошей у Росії, що вони гратимуть у цю маленьку гру протягом усієї війни, доки Україна не вирішить, що з цими іграми закінчила, і не побудує власну оборону разом з Європою, не розширить свої можливості. Я б не довіряв Америці зараз, особливо коли щодня на кону стоять життя українців.




The Trump family has taken so much money from Russia, they are going to play this little game all throughout the war until Ukraine decides they are done with the games and builds their own defense, along with Europe and scales up. I wouldn’t trust America right now, not when there are Ukrainian lives at stake daily.

NY1_S33

Sad, if they gave what Ukraine needed at start of year war may have been over by now and lives saved, all too scared of putin fake threats.

Tallguyyyyy

The decline is not surprising.  

TACO demands payment upfront and add a 10% surcharge on top.  It will take time to make the payments.

Compared to TACO, Biden was Rambo.

One_Cream_6888

Yep, three years is a *looong* time. It's tiring and extremely costly. All Ukraine can do is keep holding out until Russia's economy eventually crashes - from *waaaay* too much spending.

sprudelnd995

TLDR:

Military AID from Europe (EU+UK+Norway) dropped by 57% in Q2.

Military AID from USA entirely stopped in February 2025.

Financial and humanitarian AID steady from Europe (EU+UK+Norway).

Financial and humanitarian AID from USA stopped in February 2025.

USA only provides kit or intelligence if it's paid.

Europe running out of off the shelves kit to donate.

Ukraine pushing for mostly domestically made kit.

Sky_HUN

The report is by the Kiel institute which, IIRC, bases its figures on publicly-disclosed aid numbers. 

As far as I can tell, NATO allies have recently started being more discreet in terms of what aid packages contain, their cost, etc, so they might not be able to track those as well as previously.

There is also the fact that a number of previously-announced packages were multi-year affairs, but were counted as one lump sum when they were announced, but might still be trickling in.

So, it might be a question of less things being announced, the numbers not being publicized as they were before, etc, rather than less aid actually streaming through the border month to month.

A lot of investment has also been made to enable local Ukrainian production, rather than EU production which is more costly, which can be a factor too. AFAIK, Ukraine is now producing close to 50% of its frontline needs.

arkiel

The good news is that the humanitarian and financial aid have not cut down, and I feel that's more important than pure military aid. 

If you have a tank, that's great.  
If you have the factory that can run the tank or repair it. That's better. Even if you may not have the tanks themselves. As the market would regulate itself.

It's not perfect, but it does mean that Ukraine has a better position economically for now than Russia, and seeing how much the Russians have gained in the last few months, the military aid may no longer be super necessary to make Ukraine win.

ParticularArea8224

France is nowhere to be seen at the moment, I can understand that because the country is politically (and more than that) falling apart, but still, another french failure to add to the long list.

Leandrys

Canada is too busy binging on old age security payments to 90th percentile income households and digging a debt trench to hell. Not enough to go around to real causes, domestic and foreign alike.

SomeJerkOddball

I wonder if this is related to Europes’s push to help Ukraine develop their own weapons as opposed to relying on foreign weapons coming.

TheTorch


Привіт u/Practical-Pea-1205 ! During wartime, this community is focused on vital and high-effort content. Please ensure your post follows [r/Ukraine Rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/about/rules).

**Want to support Ukraine?**  [**Vetted Charities List**](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/wiki/charities) | [Our Vetting Process](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/wiki/charities-vetting)

**Daily series on Ukraine's history &amp; culture:**  [Sunrise Posts Organized By Category](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/wiki/sunriseposts/)

**To learn about how you can support Ukraine politically, visit r/ActionForUkraine**

*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukraine) if you have any questions or concerns.*

AutoModerator

guessing: replace Russia with Israel, replace Ukraine with Gaza and watch this report go total silence in 3 minutes.

paicewew

Pristine-Ant-464

slipping_jimmmy

Independent_Lake5536

Can the UN explain what the hell they were doing in the combat zone on the Ukrainian side? Attempting to supply Ukrainian troops is participating in military operations.

OddLack240

Did this come from the UN, or is someone else claiming it? Fairy tales a la SBU!

Adventurous-Cup-3129

Time for the UN and others to roll up their sleeves again issue another strongly worded response.

Nutsaqque

It's funny, in England is extremely forbidden to see at naked lady, need age verify and such  
And here on reddit we can enjoy watching family frendly beheading and exploding children

Wizzzzzzzzzzz

last I heard, UN nuclear inspectors to Iran turned out to be Israeli spies. so I have some doubts about this report

Prize-Grapefruiter

FantasticAd1167

yes that's called low state capacity

that's how it was until the 19th century

WAGRAMWAGRAM

gburgwardt

Even before the 2022 invasion, Ukrainian units operating in the JFO operated more like separate war clans with their own recruitment and fund raising.

OrbitalAlpaca

The only thing better than a for-profit army is a for-profit navy!

Tapkomet

This seems like an odd framing of what’s actually going on with these units. The article is basically just talking about the introduction of modern organizational management systems. Dedicated HR, measure performance, comparing performance to costs, etc. None of that really strikes me as what people think of when they say something is “run like a business”. 

There *are* ways Ukraine has introduced, essentially, market incentives and competition into their military with pushing sone procurement down to lower levels, letting units compete for certain kinds of supplies, letting them compete for crowdsourced support, and allowing some units to run separate recruitment. The recruitment piece is the only thing this article touches on. It is pretty interesting actually, the units that can recruit separately really are competing with each other and with the rest of the military for recruits and that’s driven them to develop extensive marketing operations.

captainjack3

I hate journalists who still write articles like it's the 19th century.  You don't need to describe posters and billboards, you can just include pictures.  It's really easy on the internet.

Unhelpful-Future9768

Might someone share the article text for those of us who are too poor to have an Economist subscription?

Tre-Fyra-Tre

If I hear another person suggest things that aren't businesses should be run like one I will scream

MyrinVonBryhana

Here is also an [article in English, without paywall](https://news.err.ee/1609829268/estonian-court-orders-crypto-trader-to-pay-ukrainian-ngo-30x-value-of-russian-donation) (by Estonian National Broadcasting)

&gt;**Estonian court orders crypto trader to pay Ukrainian NGO 30x value of Russian donation**

&gt;The Office of the Prosecutor General is executing a new penal policy where people caught donating to the Russian armed forces must pay hefty penalties.

&gt;In 2022, a cryptocurrency investor in Estonia made three donations to an organization that helps equip Russian soldiers in Ukraine, [Eesti Ekspress](https://ekspress.delfi.ee/artikkel/120409966/uus-karistuspraktika-eestis-vene-armeed-toetanud-kruptoarikas-peab-ukrainlastele-30-korda-rohkem-maksma) reports.

&gt;Using their Binance account, the suspect donated over 0.0008 bitcoins on three separate occasions.

&gt;Since the price of bitcoin fluctuated, the value of the transfers came to €23.30, €15.20 and €16.10, respectively, according to the dates, for a total of €54.60.

&gt;This activity quickly came to the attention of the Estonian Internal Security Service (ISS) who were told by the suspect that they never intended to support Russia's war in Ukraine of which they have a negative view. The offense culminated in a plea agreement where the crypto investor agreed to pay a Ukrainian aid organization 30 times the sum previously donated to benefit Russian soldiers, or €1,638.

&gt;The recipient of the money was chosen by the Prosecutor's Office through a random selection. Luck favored a Tallinn-based nonprofit organization, the Ukrainian Cultural Center (Ukraina Kultuurikeskus).

&gt;The crypto investor was also ordered to do 75 hours of community service.

&gt;According to case prosecutor Margaret Beres, the thirtyfold financial donation to Ukrainians and the community service are sufficient to influence the offender. However, if the crypto investor fails to fulfill the obligations undertaken, the Prosecutor's Office will reopen the criminal case.

&gt;Eesti Ekspress did not publish any information about the crypto investor's identity.

SlightlyUsedUsername

Good. That's a fair punishment for supporting the enemy. If you are a Russian supporting Ukraine, Russia would give you a prison sentence instead.

ZhouDa

3 baltic giants are the most based countries in the world proven again and again

ChaharHuu

Can the same be done for Europe supporting Russia? 33.6 billion in 2024.

Worried_Albatros

The other way around would be tens or maybe twenty years in Russian prison. Better for Ukraine to get the fines. Not having to provide for a person in prison

omnibossk

Special-Swimming-515

Wow, that is a wild legal ruling. It’s hard to imagine having to pay that kind of penalty for a political stance, but it definitely sends a clear message about accountability. You can see why a court would rule that way given the high stakes of the situation. That's a very unusual case.

Fit-Program6513

BordErismo

Do I get it right, European countries who pay Russia  - are not criminals. But individuals who do the same - are 🤔

d-a-dobrovolsky

NATO allies are gearing up to significantly increase their military spending and arms support for Ukraine amid ongoing conflict with Russia.

Military Aid to Ukraine

Why This Matters

Public Sentiment Summary

Highlighted Comments

Parties Involved

What the people want