Partner countries’ support for Ukraine during the war

What should Ukrainians be grateful to the partner countries for?

Published

15.10.2024

Ukraine has been living in extremely difficult conditions for almost three years. Russian aggression destroys cities, kills people and causes a mega shortage in the Ukrainian budget. If not for international partners providing assistance, Russia would have destroyed our country and enslaved its entire people.

The partners provide Ukraine with an unprecedented military aid, supplying various types of weapons and training Ukrainian military personnel, supporting the economy and posing a sanction pressure on Russia and its satellites. A number of countries hosted Ukrainian citizens, who were forced to flee because of Russian aggression, and provided humanitarian aid.

To put a just end to the war, Ukraine needs a lot of further assistance and support. It is important to talk about this with foreigners at all levels: from diplomatic meetings to a chat with a store assistant or a neighbor. To be heard, you should start such conversations with the words of gratitude. The world’s support for Ukraine is colossal and unprecedented, and Ukrainians have something to be grateful for.

In just one year and a half after February 24, 2022, the international assistance to Ukraine totaled almost EUR 170 million. Around 40% of this amount was provided in military assistance, 50% was a share of financial support, and the rest of around 10% was humanitarian aid. Donations were made by 40 countries and international institutions – the World Bank, IMF, etc.

Ukrainians should be grateful to Germany for providing the second largest military assistance after the United States. It includes ammunition of various calibers, small arms, cannon artillery, particularly the PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers, which are rightfully considered one of the best in the world, and rocket artillery, including five MARS-II MLRS and three American HIMARS, as well as air defense systems, including almost 50 Gepard anti-aircraft systems, four IRIS-T systems, one PATRIOT battery, and 20 laser-guided missile systems. The decision to transfer Germany’s famous Leopard tanks, as well as ammunition and shells for these weapons, to Ukraine was historic. In addition, Germany supplies personnel carriers, army transport, bridge layer tanks, trucks, demining equipment, and various equipment for the military. Germany is also actively involved in training programs for the Ukrainian military, and it is at Germany’s Ramstein Air Base that the partners coordinate military assistance to Ukraine. In addition, Germany provides wounded Ukrainian soldiers with treatment. In general, Germany’s military assistance to Ukraine amounted to about EUR 28 billion over less than three years of the war.

In addition, Germany provides Ukraine with comprehensive economic support, various grants, assistance in restoring the energy sector damaged by Russian attacks, exerts strong sanctions pressure, and has hosted more than 1.18 million Ukrainian refugees.

Ukrainians should be grateful to Poland, first of all, for its strong political support, and as our big neighbor, it remains the largest military, humanitarian and energy hub for Ukraine, where most of the aid to Ukraine is distributed and concentrated before being directly transferred to it, and therefore is constantly subject to various hybrid attacks.

Poland has also provided strong military support to Ukraine: 14 MiG fighter jets, twelve Mi-24 helicopters, more than 250 T-72 tanks, 60 Polish PT-91 Twardy tanks and almost two dozen German Leopard tanks, hundreds of different armored personnel carriers, an unknown number of Dzik multi-purpose wheeled armored personnel carriers of its own production, LPG WDSzs command vehicles, about a hundred different artillery pieces, including 120mm M120 Rak self-propelled mortars, 2C1 Gvozdika self-propelled 122mm howitzers, 155mm Polish howitzers Krab, dozens of Soviet MLRS Grad, dozens of different anti-aircraft systems and anti-aircraft missile systems S-125 Neva/Pechora, 9K33 Osa, anti-aircraft missiles Vympel, dozens of Polish drones of various types, cars, various small artillery, mortars, machine guns and small arms, a wide variety of ammunition and shells. Poland is also actively repairing equipment damaged in Ukraine and returning it to the battlefield. Poland takes an active part in training and rehabilitation of wounded Ukrainian soldiers. We should also be grateful to the Poles who quickly raised money to buy a Turkish Bayraktar unmanned aerial vehicle for Ukraine.

Poland has hosted millions of Ukrainian refugees. As of now, about 950,000 Ukrainians are staying under temporary protection there.

Ukrainians should be grateful to the Czech Republic for its strong political and humanitarian support. The Czech Republic has been helping Ukraine since day one of the full-scale invasion. Czechia is one of those countries that joined the effort to help Ukraine extremely quickly. There is information that on the first day of the full-scale invasion, the Czech Republic handed the Ukrainian ambassador in Prague a detailed “10 cm thick folder” with a list of weapons ready for immediate delivery. The first echelon of military aid was delivered to Ukraine on February 27, 2022. Later, the Czech Republic also became the first country to send heavy military equipment in April 2022, and later it was the first country to provide Ukraine with combat aircraft – brand new Mi-8 helicopters. The Czech Republic provided Ukraine with hundreds of T-72 tanks in cooperation with Germany, the United States, and the Netherlands, more than a hundred different armored personnel carriers, nearly two dozen different helicopters, in addition to the aforementioned Mi-8s, a wide variety of artillery, including Dana self-propelled howitzers, Grad and RM-70 Vampire multiple rocket launchers, PRAM-L heavy mortars, Morus and ISTAR electronic warfare systems, self-propelled anti-aircraft missile systems Strela, 100 MR2 Viktor anti-aircraft systems in cooperation with the Netherlands, at least two 2K12 Kub air defense batteries, hundreds of different man-portable air defense systems, tens of thousands of portable anti-tank systems, more than 70,000 BREN assault rifles and hundreds of thousands of other small arms, ammunition, shells and rounds. The Czech Republic’s ammunition initiative deserves special thanks. In addition, the Czechs are also actively involved in the maintenance of the equipment transferred to Ukraine, as well as in the training and treatment of the Ukrainian military.

The Czech Republic is also very active in providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine and is one of the leaders in terms of the number of refugees it has hosted – more than 310,000. At the same time, Czechia is perhaps the only country that has been increasing the amount of humanitarian support for Ukrainian refugees after two years, rather than decreasing it.

Ukraine should be grateful to the Baltic states for their dedication and unexampled support at all levels. The scale of assistance from the small countries of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia is smaller than that of many other countries, but they contribute the largest share of their GDP: Estonia – 1.26%, Latvia – 1.09%, and Lithuania – 0.95%.

Latvia has provided Ukraine with more than 300 military vehicles, M109 self-propelled howitzers, Mi-8, Mi-2 and Mi-17 helicopters, more than 1,000 different types, Stinger portable anti-aircraft missile systems, anti-aircraft guns, small arms, personal equipment, spare parts, and medicines. In addition, Latvia has been very active in joining the drone coalition and has provided Ukraine with 2,700 unmanned aerial vehicles.

Lithuania has provided Ukraine with two NASAMS air defense systems, FIM-92 Stinger man-portable air defense missile systems and 36 Bofors L70 anti-aircraft guns, two Mi-8 helicopters and one Aero L-39 Albatros jet training aircraft. Lithuania also donated dozens of M101 self-propelled mortars and Panzermörser heavy mortars, about a hundred M113 armored personnel carriers, military trucks, Mitsubishi L200 demining vehicles, various armored military vehicles and evacuation vehicles, small arms, ammunition and shells.

Estonia has supplied Ukraine with D-30 and FH-70 artillery systems, 120mm mortars, armored vehicles, armored personnel carriers, trucks, and demining vehicles. Estonia has also provided patrol boats, some of which in cooperation with Denmark, drones, many types of anti-tank weapons, and Mistral anti-aircraft missile systems. Ukraine has also received many types of small arms from Estonia, including 35,000 M14 automatic rifles, sniper rifles, machine guns, and ammunition for all these weapons. Estonia also provided grenade launchers and artillery rounds.

The Baltic states are actively engaged in training and treatment of Ukrainian military, humanitarian missions in support of Ukraine, hosting refugees and taking a clear pro-Ukrainian position on various international platforms.

Ukrainians should be grateful to the Netherlands for its strong political support, sanctions pressure, as well as for providing Ukraine with military assistance, including F-16 multirole fighter jets, ammunition, air-to-air missiles, repair and maintenance equipment. The Netherlands also provided Ukraine with combat and demining warships, powerful air defense systems AGM-84 Harpoon and Patriot launchers and interceptors, as well as MR-2 and Bofors 40L70 mobile air defense systems, MO-120-HB and FIM-92 Stinger man-portable air defense systems. In addition, the Netherlands provided Ukraine with modern artillery, including the world’s best German PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers, purchased 45 T-72 tanks from the Czech Republic, modernized and transferred them to Ukraine, as well as dozens of German Leopard tanks, and a large number of different armored combat vehicles, including the purchase of Combat Vehicle 90 infantry fighting vehicles together with Sweden, and 40 M113 armored personnel carriers jointly with Belgium and Luxembourg. The Netherlands has reinforced Ukrainian deminers by providing Scanjack 3500 demining systems, Bojena, mine clearance equipment for infantry fighting vehicles, mine plows, bridge layer tanks, M3 amphibious bridge vehicles, dozens of prefabricated bridges, at least 1,000 portable demining charges, and YPR-806 armored recovery vehicles. The Netherlands has provided a wide variety of army vehicles: hundreds of DAF YA-4442 and DAF YAZ-2300 trucks, Mercedes Benz 290GD ambulances, Volkswagen Amarok off-road vehicles, dozens of cranes and loaders, Toyota Landcruiser ambulances and even motorcycles. The Netherlands has provided hundreds of different UAVs, including DeltaQuad Pro VTOLs, DeltaQuad Pro VTOLs jointly with Belgium and Luxembourg, reconnaissance, surveillance and intelligence drones worth EUR 200 million, FPV drones worth over EUR 45 million, and has allocated another EUR 20 million to purchase FPV drones for the Ukrainian military as part of the drone coalition. In addition, the Netherlands has provided SeaFox mine-detecting underwater drones, purchased EUR 17.5 million worth of Ukrainian-made underwater drones, provided various radars, radar stations, radar reconnaissance and radar warfare equipment, mobile radars for detecting enemy drones, various small arms and ammunition, artillery rounds, and many types of various equipment for the military.

The Netherlands also provides humanitarian aid to Ukrainians, hosts refugees, participates in training of the Ukrainian military and treats wounded soldiers.

Denmark, like the Netherlands, provides Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets and overall strong military, humanitarian and political support. Ukrainians should be grateful to Denmark for the Harpoon anti-ship missile systems, dozens of French 155mm Caesar self-propelled howitzers, Zuzana howitzers transferred in cooperation with Germany and Norway, and 2C22 Bohdana self-propelled guns purchased for the Ukrainian army. Denmark has also supplied Leopard tanks in cooperation with the Netherlands and Germany, T-72 tanks in cooperation with Germany and the Czech Republic, Murder and BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, M113 armored personnel carriers, Pionierpanzer 2A1 Dachs armored personnel carriers, bridge laying tanks, armored repair and recovery vehicles, demining vehicles and portable charges, demining robots, mobile field bridges, and various vehicles. Denmark also provided heavy mortars, all of its artillery, anti-aircraft guns, man-portable air defense systems, underwater drones, underwater mine countermeasures, anti-drone radars, radars and communications equipment, anti-tank grenade launchers, man-portable anti-tank systems, anti-tank mines, various small arms, artillery rounds, anti-aircraft systems, tanks and small arms ammunition, as well as protective equipment.

Denmark has been actively involved in training the Ukrainian military since 2016, and in 2022 joined the relevant UK initiative. Denmark also provides financial and humanitarian support to Ukraine and hosts its refugees.

Ukrainians should first of all thank Finland for its military assistance, which, according to the Finnish side, amounted to more than EUR 2.3 billion as of June 2023, as well as for its steadfast political support and humanitarian aid. Finland has provided armored personnel carriers, Leopard tanks, self-propelled howitzers, towed howitzers 2S1 Gvozdika, 2A36 Hyacinth-B and M-46s, heavy mortars, anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank weapons, heavy machine guns, assault rifles, various ammunition and small arms. Finland joined the Czech ammo initiative and allocated EUR 30 million for it. Finland also supported the UK initiative to train the Ukrainian military.

Ukrainians should be grateful to Slovakia for producing weapons and military equipment ordered by Ukraine’s partners and for providing humanitarian aid. Under the previous government, Slovakia also sent to Ukraine 13 MiG-29 aircraft. In the first year of the invasion, Slovakia gave Ukraine 10% of its military budget. In total, during the full-scale invasion, in addition to fighter jets, Slovakia provided Ukraine with Mi-2 and Mi-17 transport helicopters, an S-300PMU air defense missile system, and two 2K12M2 Kub-M2 launchers.

Ukraine should be grateful to Romania not only for its strong military and political support, but also for the fact that this country has become another important transportation hub for Ukraine. Among the weapons Romania has transferred to Ukraine are at least two dozen Romanian TAB-71M armored personnel carriers, 155mm M1981 guns, large-caliber Soviet Degtyarov-Shpagin machine guns, APR-40 MLRS, Soviet Grad MLRS, an entire PATRIOT air defense battery, ammunition of various calibers and nomenclatures, and ammunition for the military. Romania has also started on its territory the construction of an ammunition plant, which will supply part of its products to Ukraine.

In addition, in March 2024, work began on the expansion of the military complex of the 57th Air Force Base Mihail Cogălnicănu in Romania, which is expected to become the largest in Europe and will act as an outpost to deter Russia. Also, Romania, together with Bulgaria and Turkey, launched a Black Sea mine clearance operation on July 1, which is also in favor of Ukraine and its agricultural exports.

It is Romania that Ukrainian agricultural producers are primarily grateful to. When Poland and other western neighbors blocked Ukrainian agricultural exports in 2023, Bucharest was among the first to propose a separate memorandum to resolve this issue bilaterally. In this way, Romania has actually become an important logistics hub that has enabled Ukraine to export its food, thereby providing farmers with income, filling the budget, and maintaining the hryvnia exchange rate.

In addition, Romania is actively involved in European economic support initiatives. The country has also hosted about 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.

Ukrainians are primarily grateful to Bulgaria for its military support. In particular, for supplying scarce Soviet weapons when we still had few Western weapons, which the country also delivered to Ukraine later. In particular, Bulgaria provided Ukraine with missiles for S-300 anti-aircraft systems, 14 Soviet Su-25 fighters, T-72 tanks and Soviet Grad MLRS in cooperation with the Czech Republic, more than a hundred Soviet BTR-60 armored personnel carriers, Gvozdika self-propelled artillery systems, 152mm D-20 cannons and 60mm M60CMA mortars, 9M111MFB-1 portable anti-tank systems, DRTG-73 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, ATGL-L and BULSPIKE-AT anti-tank grenade launchers, Warrior SPG-9 rifles, at least 1,500 MG-1M general-purpose machine guns, artillery ammunition of almost all possible nomenclatures and calibers, both Soviet and NATO. Bulgaria also supplies the Ukrainian Armed Forces with ammunition and has joined in training.

Bulgaria has also provided economic and humanitarian support to Ukraine.

Ukrainians are primarily grateful to Croatia for providing weapons, including aircraft. Croatia has provided two An-32B military transport aircraft, 14 Mi-8 helicopters, 30 M-84 tanks, M-80 infantry fighting vehicles, towed artillery – 130mm M-46 cannons and D-30 howitzers. Until March 2023, 128mm RAK-SA-12 man-portable air defense systems, anti-tank missiles, Strela-2 and Igla man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems and ammunition for them, a lot of small arms, including 35,000 M70 Zastava assault rifles and 5,000 FN FAL combat rifles, machine guns with ammunition, tens of millions of small arms ammunition, and thousands of grenades. Bulgaria also buys 155mm artillery ammunition for Ukraine and provides various equipment and ammunition for the military.

Ukrainians also thank Sweden for its military and political support. In particular, Sweden is one of the few countries that provided Ukraine with military aircraft – two ASC 890 air surveillance aircraft. Ukraine has also received RBS-97 Hawk anti-aircraft missile systems, IRIS-T anti-missile systems, Rb-99 air-to-air missiles, and Swedish Archer self-propelled artillery systems from Sweden. Sweden has also provided Ukraine with Leopard tanks, more than 50 CV9040 armored personnel carriers, all available Pansarbandvagn 302 tracked armored personnel carriers, demining equipment, 90 Bärgningsbandvagn armored repair and recovery vehicles, and various military vehicles, PS-90 air surveillance radar systems, Robotsystem 70s man-portable air defense systems and missiles, various anti-tank weapons and anti-tank mines, Automatgevär anti-tank rifles, assault rifles, KSP-58 machine guns, ammunition and equipment for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Sweden has also reinforced the Ukrainian Marines by providing robotic coastal defense systems, combat boats, coast guard jet skis, radars, and boats.

Sweden has also contributed to the training of the Ukrainian military, providing Ukraine with financial assistance and strong political support.

Ukrainians are grateful to Norway, first of all, for also providing Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets and reinforcing our air defense with NASAMS and IRIS-T anti-aircraft missile systems. Norway has also provided Ukraine with M-270 multiple launch rocket systems, M109A3GN and Suzanne self-propelled artillery systems, Leopard tanks, Dingo 2s mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles equipped with CORTEX Typhon RWS air defense systems to combat unmanned aerial systems, Iveco LAV infantry fighting vehicles, Mistral-2 man-portable air defense systems, Hellfire coastal defense missile systems, radars, various UAVs, repair and evacuation vehicles, engineering vehicles, more than 50 NM199 tracked cargo transporters, Scania P92 trucks with crane manipulators and Scania P113 trucks with hook lifts, demining equipment, anti-tank vehicles, electronic warfare equipment, UAV countermeasures, various ammunition and ammunition.

Norway also provides financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

Ukrainians should be grateful to the UK for one of the most powerful military supports and for its considerable political support. The list of weapons provided by the UK will be considerable. This includes helicopters, Challenger tanks, Scimitar Mk armored reconnaissance vehicles, logistics vehicles, and hundreds of different armored personnel carriers – FV103 Spartans, FV104 Samaritans, M113, FV430 Bulldog, and MRAP mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, Wolfhound heavy tactical support vehicles, Mastiff armored patrol vehicles, Husky tactical support vehicles, Babcock Toyota Land Cruiser bulletproof vehicles for civilian officials in frontline cities, and more than a hundred logistics vehicles. Ukraine has also received 105mm L118/L119s guns, 155mm M109A4BE and AS-90 self-propelled artillery systems, 227mm M270B1 MLRS, Stormer and Starstreak man-portable anti-tank systems, MSI-DS Terrahawk Paladin anti-aircraft missile system, MSI-DS Terrahawk Paladin multi-purpose missiles, and ASRAAM anti-aircraft missiles. The United Kingdom also supplies Ukraine with electronic warfare equipment, GPS jamming equipment, electronic warfare equipment against drones, UAVs, including about a thousand Black Hornets, and hundreds of barrage munitions. Of all the partners, the UK has been the best at reinforcing Ukraine in the water, providing at least two dozen BvS 10 Viking amphibious assault ships, more offshore raiding ships, two Sandown-class minesweepers and at least 50 small military boats to support river and coastal operations, and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The UK also provided a lot of engineering equipment – Challenger armored repair and evacuation vehicles, equipment for breaking through minefields and for rebuilding structures, including bridges, dozens of demining machines and dozens of bulldozers. This country has also provided us with the famous Storm Shadows air-to-air missiles, and Brimstone surface-to-air missiles of various modifications. This list can be supplemented with anti-tank weapons, shells and missiles of various calibers, ammunition, and equipment for the military.

In addition, the UK is the actual organizer of the largest exercises of the Ukrainian military and is the most active in this regard.

In addition, the UK supports Ukraine economically, in particular, it is one of the key donors of direct budgetary support – more than $2.5 billion. It also provides us with humanitarian aid and has hosted more than 170,000 Ukrainians.

 The list is yet to be updated.