Ukraine continues to rely heavily on American military technology, intelligence and certain key defence systems, even though Europe has taken over most of the financial burden for Kiev’s support.
Tensioning relations between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky has re-opened the issue if Ukraine can continue its defence without Washington’s support, CNN reports.
Trump has criticised Zelensky for what he sees as an insufficient lack of willingness to negotiate an end to the war, while Kiev has accused Washington of holding substantial military aid hostage.
According to analysts, the US can exert influence over Ukraine in three main areas — economic, military and political. The consequences of any further withdrawal of US support can be serious, although experts do not believe this would necessarily imply the collapse of Ukrainian resistance.
At first 2025, the Trump administration halted the adoption of new aid packages for Ukraine. However, some of the weapons continue to reach Ukraine, although many previous contracts have been met.
According to the German Institute for World Economics in Kiel, the U.S.A. has provided at least $131.5 billion in total assistance to Ukraine since the start of the large – scale Russian invasion in 2022.
According to the same data, the European Union and its member states together have offered at least $28.5 billion in assistance. Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden are among the EU member states that have provided more military assistance. A considerable contribution has also been made by the United Kingdom and Norway.
Part of the European support comes in the form of buying American weapons, which European countries later send to Ukraine. However, such remittances still require approval of the US Department of Defence, which gives Washington the opportunity to influence remittances.
One of the biggest problems of Ukrainian air defence is the lack of trace missiles for Patriot systems, which are among the few tools capable of catching ballistic missiles.
Zelensky warned that the missile shipments agreed on earlier would be delayed. According to him, at a crucial moment, Ukraine has lost some of the ammunition needed to protect itself against Russian ballistic attacks.
During one of the recent Russian attacks on Kiev, no ballistic missiles were seized, suggesting that Patriot’s tracking missiles were exhausted.
Zelensky said that, under such circumstances, Ukraine needs more concrete support from the allies. However, analysts estimate that a long-term deadlock in American weapons purchase can affect American defence companies, so they do not consider certain that such restrictions will remain in force for a long time.
Although US financial assistance has been reduced, Ukraine continues to rely heavily on US intelligence and technology systems. These include Patriot anti-missile systems, Starshill satellite communication infrastructure, dedicated to military users, as well as advanced technology for warning of missile attacks.
Max Bergmann, director of Russia’s programme at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, stresses that further US support cuts could have serious consequences for Ukraine, including greater economic damage, more civilian victims and further population shift.
However, he doubts that such a development could, in itself, break Ukraine’s will to continue the war.
Analysts conclude that a reduction in American support does not necessarily mean the immediate end of Ukrainian resistance, but may significantly increase the cost of continuing the war.
Kiev’s long-term ability to protect will also depend on the speed at which European countries can compensate for the key American military and technological capacities.
Source Layer: Dukeagini
