Support for Ukraine by Western countries has become one of the main success factors of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Although Ukraine receives support from many states, it is the assistance of the United States that has proven to be unprecedented in its magnitude.
What do Americans think about aid allocation to Ukraine? And how do the Ukrainians themselves see it?
UNITED STATES
Nearly a third of Americans (31%) believe that the United States provides sufficient assistance to Kiev in its fight against Russian aggression. This is evidenced by the results Pew Research Poll held from January 18 to 24 among more than five thousand residents of the United States.
At the same time, 20% of respondents would like an increase in the scale of aid.
However, 26% of survey participants, on the contrary, believe that the amount of aid should be limited. The number of those who hold this opinion increased fourfold in January compared to polls at the start of the war. So, if now this figure is 26%, in September it did not exceed 20%, and in the spring, when the number of aid programs was low, the figure was at the level of 12% (May 2022) and 7 % (March 2022).
According to Pew Research, among those who support restricting aid, there are mostly many supporters of the Republican Party. Today, 40% of Republicans are talking about too much aid to Ukraine, up 8% from September.
A similar trend is also characteristic of Democrats, but on a smaller scale. In January, 15% of Democratic Party supporters agreed that Kiev was getting too much aid from the United States. This figure has steadily increased since the start of the war, starting from 5% during the March election. At the same time, the majority of Democrats consider current aid volumes to be justified – 40% of Democrats polled said so.
When it comes to President Joe Biden’s policy toward Ukraine as a whole, the majority (43%) of Americans tend to support it, and a third of those polled think it’s wrong. The differences between the parties are no less evident here: 61% of Democrats and 27% of Republicans said they approve of the president’s policies.
Interestingly, Americans rate Biden’s policy toward Ukraine higher than his political career in general: so far, his approval rating is 38%.
Ukraine
In mid-January, a research company Ipsos surveyed 800 Ukrainian residents their views on international aid.
Almost half of the respondents (49%) consider the level of economic support for Ukraine from partner countries to be sufficient. The situation is different in terms of arms supply: only 18% of Ukrainians believe that their volume is sufficient. Above all, the Ukrainian people are happy with the way allied countries are accepting Ukrainian refugees – nearly three-quarters of respondents said there was a sufficient level of support for this.
Special attention deserves diplomatic support from other countries, which the majority of Ukrainians (60%) called “strong”. Since the start of the Russian invasion, Ukraine has been visited by a large number of high-ranking foreign politicians, including the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Poland, Canada and dozens of other states. Almost all respondents (95%) said they considered the visits important for spreading information about the situation in the country and as a meaningful show of solidarity with Ukraine.
Ukrainians attach particular importance to the visits of the leaders to the recently liberated regions of the country, where evidence of the crimes of Russian troops is still kept (84% reported the importance of such visits). Heads of state have repeatedly visited the affected Ukrainian towns – in particular Bucha and Irpen, which became notorious after the massacres of civilians by the Russian army.
The leaders of many states have visited Ukraine, but the Ukrainians are ready to entrust only some of them with the role of guarantor of their country’s security. 76% of respondents would entrust this role to the United States, while around two-thirds of Ukrainians would be happy to see Britain and Poland among the guarantors. The authors of the study asked to name no more than five potential guarantor countries: Germany, Canada, France, Turkey, China and Italy were named among them.
The Ipsos survey provided insight into not only Ukrainians’ perception of foreign support, but also why Ukrainians need this support so badly. For example, 22% of survey participants said they or their family members were forced to leave Ukraine after the invasion began. More than half of those who left have not yet returned.
Only 56% of respondents said they currently have a job, compared to 70% before the Russian invasion. More than half of respondents (54%) also reported a drop in income.
