Along with the United States, the main military, financial and humanitarian supporter of Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion, the neighboring countries of the two warring parties are on the front line, making even greater efforts compared to their wealth, writes AFP.

USA, the main contributor

165 billion euros. That’s the total amount of aid pledged to Ukraine by its allies, mainly NATO and the European Union, as of May 31, 15 months after the Russian invasion, according to a Kiel Institute census based on public announcements released Thursday.

These amounts include financial, humanitarian and military aid.

The largest part is provided by the USA (70.70 billion), EU institutions (35.06 billion), Great Britain (10.74 billion), Germany (10.68 billion) and Japan (6.62 billion).

The Baltic countries are making the most efforts

Although the Baltic contribution seems small compared to the United States’ contribution of 1.41 billion euros, 50 times less than the American contribution, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are indeed the largest contributors to the Great Sacrifice to help Ukraine.

In one year, these three republics, which were also occupied by the Soviet Union for decades before gaining independence in 1991, spent 1.26%, 1.09% and 0.95% of their GDP respectively on their gross domestic product (GDP). By comparison, the US effort is only 0.33% of GDP.

“There is a real existential fear in the Baltic states” that “strengthens their support for Ukraine,” Jiri Priban, a law professor at Cardiff University, told AFP in March.

In general, the countries bordering Ukraine and Russia are making the most efforts. Poland and Slovakia, which round out the top five contributors by wealth, pledged to contribute 0.68% and 0.63% of their GDP, respectively.

These five countries mainly provide military aid to Ukraine. Poland was at the forefront of supplying hundreds of Soviet-designed tanks as early as spring 2022, then, after Germany gave the green light in early 2023, supplied modern Leopard 2 tanks. Meanwhile, the Baltic states sent, among other things, light weapons. , drones and howitzers.

Discord among some neighbors of Ukraine

But not all neighboring countries of Ukraine are so generous on this. Hungary, for example, is one of the lowest contributors (0.03%). Its prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who has always tried not to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin, opposes arms shipments.

In Slovakia, the government’s support for its neighbor led to the ouster of former populist Prime Minister Robert Fico, whose Smer-SD party is doing well in polls ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for September.

Among the most populous EU countries that are geographically less affected by the conflict, Germany makes the most effort (0.27%), well ahead of Italy (0.07%), Spain (0.06%) and France (0.05%).

Finally, Japan is the largest donor outside the European Union and NATO. Its contribution of more than €6 billion (0.15% of GDP) is almost exclusively financial.

Germany and Poland, countries receiving refugees

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, among Ukraine’s allies, Germany and Poland host the most refugees, respectively 1.07 million and 995,000 as of July 4, far ahead of the Czech Republic (346,000).

But in relation to population, Montenegro is the most welcoming, with approximately 38,540 refugees living on its territory, which is more than 6.1% of its population. The Baltic countries and countries geographically close to Ukraine are again in the following places: Ukrainian refugees make up more than 3% of the population of Estonia, the Republic of Moldova, and the Czech Republic, and more than 2% of the population of Lithuania, Poland, and Bulgaria. and Latvia.

At the other end of the scale, France is the EU country with the smallest share of Ukrainian refugees (0.11%).

The flow of refugees to these countries is not without problems. In Estonia, the far-right party EKRE came second in the parliamentary elections in early March, advocating the “protection” of Estonian workers, particularly from the influx of Ukrainian refugees.