Military Aid to Ukraine Drops Sharply Despite NATO PURL Initiative – Kiel Institute
Military aid to Ukraine declined sharply in the summer of 2025, despite the launch of NATO's new PURL initiative, while financial and humanitarian support remained stable.
The Gaze reports on it, referring to the Kiel Institut`s research “Ukraine Support Tracker.”
NATO's new Priority Urgent Requirements List (PURL) initiative, agreed in July 2025 at a meeting between the NATO Secretary General and the US President, aimed to provide Ukraine with ready-to-use weapons from US arsenals, financed by other member states of the alliance.
Eight countries joined the initiative — Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden — which allocated €1.9 billion to support Ukraine. The Gaze recently reported that Slovenia has become the latest European nation to join the U.S.-led initiative to purchase American weapons for Ukraine.
Despite the launch of PURL, military aid in July and August fell by 43% compared to the monthly average for the first half of 2025.
European countries, which replaced the US after it stopped announcing new aid packages, reduced their allocations by 57% in the summer compared to January-June, even taking into account contributions to PURL. This indicates that overall military support for Ukraine has fallen sharply, despite the new NATO mechanism.
Financial and humanitarian aid remained stable and came mainly from EU institutions. Between July and August, €7.5 billion in financial and humanitarian aid was allocated, which is in line with previous years and the first half of this year.
Analysts note that PURL remains an important tool for ensuring that Ukraine has weapons ready for use, but the summer reduction in military aid raises concerns about further deliveries in the fall, when the situation on the front lines will require stable and rapid supplies of weapons.
Christoph Trebesch, head of the Ukraine Support Tracker and Research Director at the Kiel Institute said that “the decline in military aid in July and August is surprising. Despite the NATO PURL initiative, Europe is scaling back its overall military support. What will be crucial now is how the figures evolve in the autumn.”
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