Europe Ramps Up Defense Procurement for Ukraine

Zelensky’s disastrous last White House meeting, which saw him publicly berated by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, served as a wake-up call for many European leaders, as it made clear that Ukraine and subsequently Europe as a whole could no longer rely on the unwavering support and protection of the United States. As a consequence, the EU and many of its member states quickly made provisions to ramp up defense spending and reduce their dependence on their transatlantic partner, both in helping Ukraine and in deterring Russia from further aggression.

While the U.S. remains the largest overall donor of military and financial aid to Ukraine, Europe has recently overtaken the U.S. in terms of defense procurement for Ukraine. Since the start of the war, EU member states, the UK, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland have allocated €35 billion ($41 billion) in military aid sourced from defense industries to Ukraine, with data from the IFW Kiel’s Ukraine Support Tracker showing a clear uptick in defense procurement in recent months. "Military aid to Ukraine is increasingly determined by the capacity of the defense industry," Taro Nishikawa, project lead of the Ukraine Support Tracker, said. "Europe has now procured more through new defense contracts than the United States - marking a clear shift away from drawing on arsenals toward industrial production."