Macron's interruption of Trump: Is he right? Who gives more money to Ukraine?

BarcelonaThe relationship between French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump has alternated between open rivalry and allegedjokeSince the tycoon arrived at the White House for the first time, his meetings have generated curious images that analysts have looked at with a magnifying glass to try to find out which of the two moments they are in. He interrupted Donald Trump to deny him live and corrected his statements about the aid that Europe provides to Ukraine. Ukraine. They get the money back...", Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, before his meeting with Macron. It is then that the French president interrupts Trump by gently placing his hand on his arm and intervenes to say: "No, in fact, to be honest, we have paid 60% of the total effort. It was, like the United States, through loans, guarantees and grants, and we put real money, let's be clear. We have 230 billion of frozen assets in Europe, Russian assets, but this is not like the guarantee of a loan, because they are not ours. So they are frozen. If in the end, in the negotiation that we will have with Russia, they are willing to give it to us, great. It would be a loan, in the end, and Russia would have paid for it."

A full-blown denial to which Donald Trump makes some gestures with his hands and face that denote skepticism and ends by saying: "If that's what you think, that's fine with me." known to have a propensity for lying However, Macron's explanation in this case is somewhat convoluted. Who of the two is right? Close monitoring of the money Ukraine has received In financial, military and humanitarian aid, since the beginning of the war on February 24, 2022, Europe has so far put more money than the United States into this cause. And the think tank The EU is talking about "allocations" of money, which is not loans. By this count, Europe has already provided 132.3 billion euros to Ukraine, compared to 114.2 billion euros (at current exchange rates) from the United States. In addition, the EU has pledged to provide another 115.1 billion in the future. Donald Trump has repeatedly said that the United States has given 350 billion to Ukraine, a figure that has been repeatedly contradicted by official data that matches the Kiel Institute's figure.

The most recent official data from the European Union puts aid to Ukraine at 135 billion euros, of which 67.7 billion euros is financial and humanitarian aid, about 48.7 billion is military aid, and another 17 billion is aid to Australia. The figures also include the first €1.5 billion disbursed from Russian financial assets frozen by the EU, which Macron mentioned. The agreement provides for offering Kiev $50 billion that it would get from the profits derived from Russian assets that the EU has frozen, under its sanctions against Moscow.

In a summary of the European Union delegation to the United States, The EU, published just last week, claims that the EU has already provided $145 billion (the exchange rate the EU itself estimates) to Ukraine, which includes direct military assistance, and financial assistance. The breakdown of this money by the European delegation shows three items such as "loans, grants and guarantees" for a total value of $16.2 billion.

In any case, what is clear to everyone in Brussels is that the money being provided to Ukraine is a non-refundable sum, as has been reiterated by various EU sources, and that there is no will (and even less real possibility, given the poor state of the Ukrainian economy) to recover this money.

They also point out that the future commitment is to provide an additional 54 billion dollars until 2027 and another 50 billion through immobilized Russian assets, figures that do not exactly coincide with those given by Macron to the press, but which do confirm his "real" figures for Ukraine, and in greater amounts than those provided by the United States.