Updated figures: US aid to Ukraine

Speaking Security Newsletter | Note n°210 | 10 July 2023

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How much aid has the US sent to Ukraine?

At least $137 billion since February 25, 2022. Two-thirds of that is military aid; the other $45 billion is non-military (economic, humanitarian, etc) aid. These figures include the amounts appropriated by Congress and enacted unilaterally by executive authority. Other sources track obligations or deliveries, which is why you might see different numbers elsewhere (see: “Resolving data discrepancies on US military aid to Ukraine”).

I told The Intercept back in September that the structure, content, and overall volume of US aid — particularly in the absence of a coherent strategy — strongly suggests endless war. I bravely stand by that uncontroversial and in some ways obvious statement. Still, “Tell me how this ends” doesn’t seem to feature prominently in the media’s interactions with US leadership. I’ve also noticed that it’s moderately to extremely difficult to find basic stats on civilian deaths, Ukrainian military losses, and accurate third-party aid totals. In other words, the costs of war. Perhaps if this information was widely available and easily accessible, there’d be less of the hideous and factually wrong “this war is a bargain” narrative floating around.

^Alt text for screen readers: Biden has approved $137 billion in Ukraine aid. This is a yellow and brown area chart showing total U.S. aid to Ukraine from February 25, 2022 through July 7, 2023. The brown area, representing cumulative non-military aid, is stacked on top of the larger yellow portion, which shows cumulative military aid. Right now military aid makes up a little over two-thirds of the total. Data comes from Public Laws 117-103, 117-128, 117-180, 117-328 and the Federal Register.

-Stephen (@stephensemler; stephen@securityreform.org)

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