In times of need. Cross-country investigation of the determinants of aid allocation for Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion

Abstract

In August 2023, the Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine had already been ongoing for almost sixteen months. During this time, many world governments provided aid to Ukraine. Our study scrutinizes the geographical, economic, political, and defensive factors determining the distribution of bilateral aid to Ukraine, using cross-national data from 105 countries. Using Tobit regression, we have shown that NATO or EU membership, a country's freedom level, and its distance from the Russian Federation correspond to increased total and military aid. Additionally, freedom was related to higher financial aid, while freedom, distance from the Russian Federation, and total trade with Ukraine were related to higher humanitarian aid provided to Ukraine. Our analysis contributes to a better understanding of aid allocation to Ukraine during the Russian invasion and suggests that countries might provide aid to enhance the military safety of the Euro-Atlantic area, to express the freedom-oriented values of democratic countries, and to protect their economic interests in Ukraine. Thus, the aid provided to Ukraine seems to serve donors' foreign policy strategy driven by security, political, and trade interests.