Europe’s uneven Ukraine aid

Germany and Britain are pushing more weapons and drones to Ukraine even as Europe’s broader foreign-aid budgets are shrinking. (bundesregierung.de) (oecd.org) German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in Berlin on April 14 that Germany and Ukraine had agreed new aid packages focused on air defence, long-range weapons, drones and ammunition during talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukraine and Germany also said they would start work on joint production of advanced drones and other defence systems. (apnews.com) (pravda.com.ua) Berlin’s existing military support is already among Europe’s largest. Germany says it has provided or committed about €40 billion in bilateral military support since Russia’s full-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022. (bmvg.de) (bundesregierung.de) Britain has built its Ukraine drone policy around mass supply. The United Kingdom said on June 4, 2025 that it would deliver 100,000 drones to Ukraine by April 2026, backed by £350 million inside a wider £4.5 billion military package. (gov.uk 1) (gov.uk 2) London widened that approach on March 17, 2026, when Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Zelenskyy agreed a new defence-industrial partnership centred on drones and other low-cost military technology. The British government said the plan would link United Kingdom and Ukrainian defence companies and expand joint production. (gov.uk 1) (gov.uk 2) The split is sharpest when military aid is set against development aid. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said official development assistance from its donor countries fell 23.1% in 2025 to $174.3 billion, the largest annual contraction on record. (oecd.org 1) (oecd.org 2) That drop followed years in which aid totals were lifted by spending on refugees inside donor countries and by support tied to Ukraine. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said lower in-donor refugee costs and cuts by several governments drove the 2025 reversal. (oecd.org) (marketscreener.com) Germany moved in both directions at once. Euronews, citing the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s preliminary data, reported that Germany became the world’s largest official development assistance donor in 2025 after the United States cut back, even though German aid also fell from the year before. (euronews.com) (oecd.org) For Ukraine, that means European governments are still finding money fastest for air-defence interceptors, ammunition and drones that can be used at the front. For aid agencies and poorer countries outside Europe, the same governments are sending less through the budgets that fund health, food and development programmes. (bundesregierung.de) (euronews.com)