Military aid to Ukraine reached its lowest level in 2025 and was provided almost entirely by the Europeans, whose efforts to compensate for the US withdrawal made it possible to avoid a complete interruption, Agence France-Presse reported, citing a study by the German Institute for World Economy in Kiel, BTA reported.
Last year, Kiev's allies allocated 36 billion euros in military aid, which is 14% less than the previous year (41.1 billion in 2024). This is stated in the latest update of the institute's data, which reports on the military, financial and humanitarian assistance promised and provided to Ukraine since the Russian invasion that began on February 24, 2022.
The military aid for 2025 is even less than that allocated in 2022, which did not cover a full year.
But with the complete cessation of US aid in early 2025, after Donald Trump's return to the White House, support for Ukraine could fall even further. Washington provided about half of the military aid from 2022 to 2024.
European countries have made significant efforts to fill this gap, increasing their budget by 67% in 2025 compared to the average for 2022-2024. However, the Kiel Institute notes “growing disparities” between the various European donors, with countries from Northern and Western Europe providing around 95% of military aid.
Northern Europe, which accounts for 8% of the total GDP of European countries providing aid to Ukraine, provided 33% of European military aid in 2025, while Southern Europe (19% of GDP) contributed only 3%.
In 2025, part of the military aid (3.7 billion euros) was financed by the Europeans within the framework of a mechanism created by NATO to finance the purchase of American weapons for Ukraine. The Kiel Institute sees this as a "significant development" over the past year, which in particular allowed the purchase of "Patriot" anti-aircraft batteries and HAYMARS missile systems.
Ukraine's European allies are also placing increasing orders with the Ukrainian arms industry, following the example of Denmark, which began this trend in 2024. According to the Kiel Institute, Ukraine's defense production capacity "has grown 35 times" since 2022, but Kiev's financial capabilities are insufficient to keep Ukrainian arms factories at full capacity. Orders from 11 European countries in 2025 have made it possible to fill this gap.
In the second half of 2025, a record 22% of arms purchases for Ukraine were directed to Ukrainian factories.