A demonstrator holds signs during a protest outside the United States Embassy as U.S. President Donald Trump holds talks with Russian and Ukrainian sides regarding a possible ceasefire, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 15, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
On February 24, for the first time, the U.S. voted against the peaceful resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war. This vote, along with its decision on March 4 to pause military aid, shows a marked shift in the U.S.’s policy towards Ukraine, which has depended heavily on it throughout the war for its military needs.
Among the 176 member countries of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that participated in the draft resolution, Advancing a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine, 93 voted in favour, while 65 countries, including India, abstained from voting.
Only 18 countries voted against the resolution. The U.S. was joined by Russia, North Korea, and Belarus, countries with which it has never once agreed on Ukraine-related decisions. Its decision clashed with those of countries that had aligned with the U.S. in over 80% of the UNGA resolutions in the past, including Canada, Britain, Australia, and France.
Chart 1 shows the share (in %) of countries which voted in favour of Ukraine and against it in UN resolutions regarding the country.
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The U.S.’s U-turn has implications for Ukraine, which is still trying to defend itself against Russian invasion. Ever since Russia’s initial occupation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, over 40 countries have extended financial, humanitarian, and military aid to Ukraine. The U.S.’s total contribution of €114 billion is the largest since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. It remains the leading donor in military, humanitarian, and financial aid to Ukraine in this period. European nations have together contributed €132 billion.
Chart 2 shows the top five countries that have donated military aid to Ukraine since 2022 (in %). The U.S. has donated €64 billion, more than half of all the military aid received by Ukraine during the war. The U.K. is at a distant second, having donated about 10% of the total amount.
In fact, backed mainly by the U.S., Ukraine became the largest importer of major arms in the world in the 2020-24 period, a nearly 100-fold rise compared with the figures of 2015-19. U.S. military aid has given Ukraine some vital arms and ammunition, especially missiles, which Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “will do all the talking”.
Chart 3 shows the U.S.’s share in Ukraine’s imports across various categories of weapons since the start of the war.
The U.S. supplies over 70% of the aircraft used by Ukraine in the war and leads in providing weapons across most categories, including sensors (63%), missiles (55%), armoured vehicles (41%), and air defence systems (28%). However, it does not hold the largest share in artillery, which is primarily supplied by Poland, or in engines, where Germany accounts for about 40% of the supply. The arms supply data includes arms supplied and arms that countries have committed to supplying.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. will be pausing military aid following his clash with Mr. Zelenskyy at the White House comes at a critical time. The outnumbered Ukrainian military forces and civilians continue to suffer casualties.
Chart 4 shows the number of civilian fatalities and injuries in Ukraine per month since February 24, 2022.
While the number of fatalities, which peaked in March 2022, has decreased since the beginning of the war, an average of about 172 civilians have been killed in Ukraine every month over the past year. A total of 12,605 civilians have been killed since February 2022.
Published – March 20, 2025 08:00 am IST