Photo: Members of an electoral table count the ballots of the local elections, in Ronda, southern Spain, May 28, 2023. Credit: REUTERS/Jon Nazca

European Voters to Ukraine: We’ve Got Your Back

While lawmakers and governments squabble over support for Kyiv, voters across the West still strongly support Ukraine’s fight for freedom.

By Mark Temnycky

February 21, 2024

As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine reaches its two-year anniversary, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians have died, Ukrainian villages and cities have been destroyed, and a quarter of Ukraine’s total population remains displaced.

Ever since tanks rolled across the border, Western nations have worked to support Ukraine. The European Union (EU) and its member states have provided more than €85bn ($92bn) in aid and have helped Kyiv prepare to further integrate with the bloc that it will one day join.

Another $54 billion is on its way in the next three years, after the EU eventually reached a deal on February 1 following months of wrangling. If approved, a proposed $60bn package from the US would also add to more than $75bn already sent by Washington.

And yet, there are concerns that voter fatigue is spreading across the West, as rises in the cost of living — some caused by the war — lead lawmakers and commentators to question if their countries can afford to continue the support. Others see the war dragging on and believe it cannot be won.

So, it is telling that opinion surveys show that voters in Western democracies still strongly support Ukraine.

Interviews across the EU found 89% want the bloc to provide humanitarian aid, 72% support financial aid, and 60% want it to continue providing defense equipment, the European Commission said in a statement posted on its website.

The face-to-face surveys conducted in October and November across the EU’s 27 member states found 57% satisfaction with the EU’s current efforts to help Ukraine.

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Public opinion surveys in the UK, which has provided nearly $15bn in humanitarian and defense assistance, found similar results. According to the British Foreign Policy Group, “a majority of Britons support all forms of aid provided to Ukraine.” Some 69% of participants said that the UK should provide defense equipment to Ukraine. Survey participants also believed that the UK “should provide assistance to Ukraine for as long as it takes.” A Chatham House study found similar results.

Research in the US in January found strong recognition that the war should be a priority. A survey by the Pew Research Center found that 74% of the respondents said that war is important to US national interests, and 59% said that it is important to them personally.

While the proportion of voters saying the US is doing too much to help Ukraine has grown to 31%, some 47% believe Washington is doing the right amount or should do more to help Kyiv, according to another survey for Pew in December.

Assistance from the West has made a vital difference, helping Ukraine reclaim more than 50% of the territory Russia seized at the start of the war. Russian soldiers were pushed entirely out of central and northern Ukraine in 2022, and Russia has suffered serious losses, including numerous warships sunk and damaged, in Ukraine’s successful 2023 Black Sea campaign.

These demonstrate that aid, along with Ukrainian ingenuity and determination, have a significant effect and that the lack of it, as with the withdrawal from Avdiivka on February 17, carries significant consequences.

Public support for Ukraine remains strong across Europe, and many elected officials in the EU and UK are committed to helping Ukraine succeed through multi-year plans of assistance. That in no way minimizes the importance of continuing US military aid — it produces materiel that no one else can, at least for now — but it is significant that Europe and its people remain strong.

Mark Temnycky is an accredited freelance journalist covering Eurasian affairs and a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center. He can be found on X @MTemnycky

Europe’s Edge is CEPA’s online journal covering critical topics on the foreign policy docket across Europe and North America. All opinions expressed on Europe’s Edge are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis. CEPA maintains a strict intellectual independence policy across all its projects and publications.