The EU predicted a double increase in spending on assistance to Kiev to replace the United States

The European Union (EU) will be forced to double its military, financial and humanitarian support for Ukraine to replace help USA, if Washington stops providing assistance to Ukraine. This was reported on February 28 by the British magazine The Economist.

According to the magazine, EU countries have spent €113 billion on military, financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, which is 0.2% of total GDP. To compensate for the US aid, Brussels will need to increase this figure to 0.4% of GDP. At the same time, six EU countries are already providing assistance to Ukraine exceeding this percentage of their GDP, which confirms the possibility of replacing American aid.

The publication also notes that the EU will be able to provide its defense without the help of the United States in the long term if it increases defense spending to 4-5% of GDP. Currently, EU defense spending amounts to €325 billion, which is 1.8% of GDP, below the NATO target of 2%.

The authors of the material suggest several ways to achieve this growth, including optimizing the budgets of the member countries, debt borrowing and the creation of a special fund. Although Hungary and Slovakia may oppose the latter option, they may also be forced to agree under pressure, the newspaper writes.

Washington Off: Trump administration is pulling back on support for Ukraine

The meeting of the contact group in the Ramstein format was chaired by the UK for the first time

Earlier, on February 26, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States is not currently supplying Ukraine href="https://iz.ru/1845206/2025-02-26/tramp-zaiavil-ob-otsutstvii-oboronnoi-pomoshchi-kievu-so-storony-ssha"> defense assistance. According to him, Kiev will have enough weapons to conduct military operations until an agreement is reached on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. He stressed that the United States has already transferred about $350 billion to Ukraine.