President Trump has made several claims regarding how much the United States has spent, as opposed to European nations.
Ukraine Support Becomes Central Issue As Trump Returns to White House latest news: Support for Ukraine has become an issue of primary concern since the return of Donald Trump to the White House. President Trump has made several claims regarding how much the United States has spent, as opposed to European nations.
Some of his claims are problematic, though, with no facts to support them. President Trump has made this assertion on a number of occasions, including when he welcomed France's President Macron to the White House this week. Estimates put the actual spend much lower.
BBC Verify could find no evidence to support the assertion. Alternative calculations of US expenditure in or connected to Ukraine yield a much lower figure.
The Kiel Institute, a think tank based in Germany that is monitoring aid flowing into Ukraine, estimated that the United States has spent $119.7bn (£94.3bn) on assistance between January 2022 and December 2024. Others have estimated a larger amount, but with a more inclusive definition of what constitutes spending on Ukraine.
The US Department of Defense has given a total looking at all spending on Operation Atlantic Resolve, a reaction to Russia's incursion into Ukraine. It states $182.8bn has been "appropriated," a sum which includes US training of military in Europe and refilling of US defense supplies. Either estimate, both amounts are significantly lower than the president claimed. The White House has given no reason for the $350bn claim.
President Trump has also asserted that the United States spent $200bn more than Europe on Ukrainian aid. He declared, "We've spent over $300bn and Europe's spent around $100bn - that's quite a difference." Yet statistics confirm Europe has actually spent more overall when all of the aid is counted, with no proof the $300bn figure exists.
Ukraine Support Becomes Central Issue As Trump Returns to White House
The United States is the largest donor to Ukraine as a country, but when combined, Europe has spent more than the United States, at least according to the Kiel Institute. The total encompasses European Union aid directly, as well as European bilateral agreements from within and outside the EU. It encompasses military, economic, and humanitarian assistance.
Between January 24, 2022, and December 2024, the entire continent of Europe collectively spent $138.7bn on Ukraine and the United States collectively spent $119.7bn, based on their estimates. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had similarly argued, factoring Canada in as well.
He stated in February 2025, "In 2024, NATO Allies provided over 50 billion euros in security assistance to Ukraine – nearly 60% of this coming from Europe and Canada." The UK is one of the biggest individual state donors to Ukraine, with the latest being a $2.8bn (£2.26bn) loan agreement signed during President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to London on March 1.
The only countries to have spent more are the United States and Germany, according to Kiel data. But UK contributions are significantly less than those of the United States.
This leaves a question for the UK and other European nations: if the United States pulls back a significant portion of its funding to Ukraine, can other states fill the gap? This would mean a drastic increase in their contributions.
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