“Ukraine needs technology, not hot air.” Why is support for Kiev declining in Europe?

The six largest European countries in July – for the first time since the start of Russian special operations – did not offer Ukraine has no new bilateral military commitments. With such a statement in an interview with the publication politics The speaker was Christophe Trebesh, head of the group that compiled the “Ukraine Support Tracker”.

Despite historic shifts in European defense policy, countries like France and Germany are resisting arms sales to Ukraine just as Kiev launches a determined counteroffensive.

The data to support this thesis came from the Kiel Institute of the World Economy, which maintained a tracking system for Ukraine’s support throughout the conflict. The newspaper writes that the information provided covers England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland.

“This shows, repeatedly emphasized by Ukrainian military officials and politicians, that the major European powers are unable to keep up with military aid from the United States and that Britain and Poland may be depleted by leading the offensive. Recently, military experts and some members of the European Parliament have been talking about this issue more and more frequently.

Christophe Trebesh said that since the end of April, European countries have assumed less and less obligations for military assistance to Ukraine:

“Although the war has entered a critical phase, new aid initiatives have dried up,” he said.

According to Politico, Western allies met in Copenhagen last week to discuss pledges to strengthen the Armed Forces by €1.5 billion, but Trebesh says his team is still analyzing the figures and the amount mentioned is “very small compared to the amount collected”. According to him at previous conferences, European countries should compare the war in Ukraine more to the eurozone crisis or the coronavirus pandemic, two events that caused the continent to pour hundreds of billions into emergency funding measures.

Noting that the EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund covers around 800 billion Euros, he said, “If you compare the speed with which the checkbook is issued and the amount of money offered to Ukraine, this is a very small amount.” Total European aid to Kiev in loans and grants is still only a small fraction of this amount. “I would say this is surprisingly low given what is at stake,” Trebesh added.

“Do more for Ukraine”

Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks recently told Politico that countries like France and Germany need to do more to fight Ukraine against Russia:

“If we want the war to end soon, they should ask themselves if they’ve done enough.”
He urged European countries to “donate proportionately at a level similar to many countries in Central Europe”, noting in particular Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Member of the European Parliament, former Estonian Defense Minister Riho Terras believes that Europe must “wake up” and that “there will be no peace until victory over Russia”.

“Hundreds of people die every day, not just soldiers, but women and children as well. People don’t really understand that we’re at war,” Terras said.

Against this backdrop, Germany faced harsh accusations that it was too slow to swap tanks with its European neighbors. He defended the Berlin approach and repeatedly pointed to the regular supply of weapons to Ukraine.

“Words mean nothing if they are not implemented on the field. Daniel Fiott, an analyst at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, said Ukraine needs technology, not hot weather. According to him, the coming weeks and months will be a test of Europe’s political and economic authority. “We should hope that European arms manufacturers can meet the growing demand, but we should also hope that governments will not interfere with the supply when military equipment becomes available,” he said.