During remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday, U.S. Senator from Maine Susan Collins (R) claimed it was a “myth” that European countries have not done their fair share to provide aid to Ukraine in their war with Russia.
Sen. Collins’ remarks come as the Trump administration lifted a pause on intelligence sharing and security assistance to Ukraine after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukraine had accepted a 30-day ceasefire proposed by the United States. Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to accept the deal.
[RELATED: Ukraine Agrees To 30-Day Ceasefire Pending Russian Approval]
President Trump has long argued that European countries and NATO member nations should spend more on their own defense and on aid to Ukraine rather than relying on the United States, claiming that the U.S. has spent more than $300 billion on support to Ukraine.
“For the past three years, we have heard repeatedly the myth that somehow the European countries were not doing their part in helping to equip Ukraine,” Sen. Collins said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
“But let’s take a look at the facts,” Collins said, standing in front of a chart ranking ally and partner security assistance to Ukraine by country. “As a percentage of GDP, the United States ranks 17th, 17th in support for Ukraine.”
“Mr. President, both the Biden administration’s slow-walking the delivery of weapons to Ukraine, and the Trump administration’s pausing military aid and intelligence sharing sent the wrong signal to an aggressive Russia,” Collins said.
“History is filled with examples of well-intentioned leaders who sought to avoid war, but who actually made war more likely by refusing to recognize the evil with which they were confronted,” she said.
Collins then referenced the infamous declaration of “peace for our time” made by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain before World War II, saying that “We should not make the same mistake by appeasing Russia.”
According to the Kiel Institute, a German-based think tank tracking support to Ukraine, the United States is the largest single donor country to Ukraine in absolute terms, with the U.S. spending roughly $119 billion on aid between January 2022 and December 2024.
The majority of that support — about $64 billion — was military aid, the largest amount of total military aid provided to Ukraine by any country by a wide margin.
The European Union (EU) ranks second behind the United States in total aid to Ukraine, with about $52 billion provided in financial and humanitarian support.
Germany ranks third at $18 billion, and the United Kingdom is ranked fourth at $15 billion.
That said, Sen. Collins was right in pointing to the fact that as a percentage of GDP, the U.S. — about 0.5% of GDP — ranks behind most European nations in aid to Ukraine if you include those countries’ share of EU aid.
In the immediate aftermath of the February 28 confrontation in the Oval Office between Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance, European leaders stepped up their expressions of support for Ukraine. More recently, Italian premier Giorgia Meloni even proposed extending NATO’s Article V protection powers to the Eastern European country that has sought, but not yet been granted, accession to the trans-Atlantic security pact.
Meanwhile, the tendency to diminish Europe’s contributions to Ukraine’s defense persists is some American quarters. Earlier this week when Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski called attention to his country’s $50 million payment towards Ukraine’s Starlink access, Starlink owner and Trump adviser Elon Musk wrote on X”: “Be quiet, small man. You pay a tiny fraction of the cost.”
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="36567 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=36567">14 Comments
It’s also a myth she is a republican that represents Maine.
I don’t care what Susan Collins has to say about anything .
She’s a democrat dressed up as , and pretending to be a Republican .
Screw Susan Collins . She’s done in 2026 .
Good they miss our money then.
Looks like Collins is all in for for corruption and has no regard for dead young men and women in a fight for what? This war is in Europe’s backyard. Let them sacrifice their money and people.I am no so sure Ukraine is worth it.
Sue you would not know a pay off if it bit you in the but. and partner, A King should know that the VA like the Post Office is home for unemployed veterans. So there is a pile of fat to be cut.
If Collins feels such admiration for the EU as opposed to the country that has supported her for decades, why the hell doesn’t she get her boney no good ass over there? I for one feel I could survive her absence.
Once again Collins sides with her Paymasters over her Constituents ….. Nothing new there been doing it since Day One .
Let’s all work hard at the next election to make Collins a myth. She’s off the deep end. Collins fails to say that the EU money is a loan.
Susan Hussein Rodham Collins is a poster child for Trump Derangement Syndrome and a tool and beneficiary of the RINO/DINO DC Kleptocracy.
Isn’t Suzie on the Armed something something Commitee? Damn, what a RINO! 2026 come on!
Blah, Blah, Blah, Creative Accounting from Rino Susan Collins! She must be getting Kickbacks somewhere in this Ukrainian Scheme? DOGE (Elon and his people) will get to the bottom of this mess. These politicians are scrambling to cover their asses any way they can. Suzy you are toast and make absolutely no sense!
Hey Suzie, define “fair” share. Is every country paying the same as the US taxpayer? I find that hard to believe.
She’s cherry picking statistics. What do they say about statistics? They don’t lie, but liars use satistics.
Anybody with access to the internet and a simple understanding of numbers knows full well that it’s not a myth. I would like to know when exactly are Sysan Collins and Angus King going to resign from the Senate and go volunteer to serve in Ukraine. Ukraine is always looking for fresh cannon fodder. Of course for both of them they’ re good with other people dying as long as their not at risk.