Only about 40% of the €100 billion ($112 billion) Germany reports as bilateral aid to Ukraine has actually gone to the country, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy said on Thursday, calling the headline figure misleading.
The institute's Ukraine Support Tracker found that €41.7 billion ($46.7 billion) can be counted as aid that actually went to Ukraine. Another €35.9 billion ($40.2 billion) was spent inside Germany, mostly on Ukrainian refugees, and €22 billion ($24.6 billion) are future promises whose implementation remains open.
"Germany is clearly Europe's biggest donor to Ukraine. But the German government's communication about its aid is becoming increasingly confusing," said Christoph Trebesch, head of the Ukraine Support Tracker. "The €100 billion figure is misleading and wrongly labeled as 'bilateral aid to Ukraine.' This is unfortunate, given how much Germany is doing," he said.
In an August update, the government put cumulative support at €100 billion as of June 30, including €43.3 billion in civilian aid and €57.6 billion in military aid that it described as "provided or earmarked for coming years." Kiel Institute experts said the figure quickly became part of media and political discussions, but was seldom explained or shown in detail.
