Despite DeSantis’ arguments that aid to Ukraine is going to bureaucrats and pensions, the vast majority of aid is military equipment. The financial aid is primarily going to help Ukraine maintain critical services.
Last night’s debate between presidential hopefuls Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis proved to be a mess of complications with little substance, with both candidates seemingly hitting each other as liars and out of touch while doing their best not to insult former president Trump. But one moment in particular demonstrated a strong contrast between Haley and DeSantis: their position on aid to Ukraine. While Haley rightly pointed out the importance of supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, DeSantis consistently misrepresented the nature of American aid to Ukraine and downright failed to provide a plan for dealing with potential future aggression by said Russian forces. His arguments ignore the basic reality of Ukrainian-American financial relations.
During their debate, DeSantis claimed that the United States was using its money “…to pay salaries for Ukrainian government bureaucrats” and was paying for Ukrainian pensions and doing very little to ensure the well-being of Ukrainians or Americans. If DeSantis’ claims were to be accepted at face value, the public would be misinformed about the nature of Ukrainian aid and under the impression that the U.S. government is simply throwing money at the Ukrainian government without any oversight while leaving Americans by the wayside.
As I explained before in my response to Vivek Ramaswamy, the aid presented to Ukraine is primarily military equipment, not financial or humanitarian. That hasn’t changed, and an updated analysis by the Council on Foreign Relations found that of the $75.6 billion that have been sent to Ukraine from January 2022 to October 31st of 2023, an estimated $46.3 billion or 61 percent was military equipment, with 35 percent being financial and 4 percent being humanitarian. In context, the United States’ defense budget for 2023 was roughly $816 billion, putting the aid to Ukraine at roughly .09 percent of the U.S. defense budget. It is far less than DeSantis thinks.
Even when accounting for the direct financial aid to Ukraine, DeSantis’ claim about what the money is being used for and how it is being tracked is still misleading, if not outright lying. As CNN’s Jennifer Hansler explained, “The money, which is disbursed through the World Bank, has gone to pay “wages for hospital workers, government employees, and teachers as well as social assistance for the elderly and vulnerable…” This aid is helping Ukraine survive.
The United States Agency for International Development also explained the purpose of direct funding to Ukraine in a press release in February of last year, saying:
“Russia’s assault on the Ukrainian people has severely undercut economic activity and resulted in a deep contraction of the Ukrainian economy by over 30 percent in 2022, drastically reducing essential revenue streams. U.S. direct budget support, combined with assistance provided by other Allies and partners, ensures that the Ukrainian government can continue to carry out core functions and set the foundation for {the} country’s recovery. Ukrainians have proven their resolve, their resilience, and their determination to control their future. Through the delivery of these funds, the United States reaffirms its commitment to the people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against Russia’s aggression.”
The United States Agency for International Development Office of Press Relations, 2023.
We are not throwing away money that we don’t have. We are providing equipment we already possess to protect an ally in a war the Rand Corporation, a nonpartisan foreign policy research organization, has called “the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War Two.” The aid we are providing in Ukraine is working to stabilize a critical ally that is under threat from a kleptocratic state whose leader believes that Ukraine doesn’t have a right to exist. It is necessary and costs us far less than DeSantis’ presentation suggests.
As I explained in my previous response to Ramaswamy, the United States is not “… the largest aid producer to Ukraine as a percentage of GDP, the United States is not even in the top ten countries providing aid …” That was true in August of 2023, and it remains true now. As of writing, the U.S. has declined in its ranking among countries providing aid as a percentage of its 2021 GPD. Where it once ranked twelfth among nations providing aid to Ukraine, the United States now ranks 16th as a matter of its GPD, per the Council on Foreign Relations, with Norway leading where Estonia previously stood.
Note: The U.S. would rank fifteenth if EU institutions were not included in the analysis.
Even if Ukraine gets the $61.4 billion that the Biden administration wants this year, which is not guaranteed thanks to the GOP-controlled House, DeSantis’ view of American aid to Ukraine would still not hold up.
The fact of the matter is that American aid to Ukraine is and always has been primarily military equipment, has been controlled relative to its GDP, and is fundamentally going to the protection of a sovereign state that was attacked in a blatant war of aggression. DeSantis can continue to argue otherwise, but his arguments show that, much like Ramaswamy, he is unfit to be commander in chief.
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