The European Commission has not received any official request from the United States to compensate Washington for military aid given to Ukraine under former President Joe Biden, a Commission spokesperson said. The aid was provided free of charge, a policy that President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized since taking office.
Asked about the matter by Radio Liberty, European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said that as far as he knew, the Commission had not received any official notification on the issue, and that he understood Trump's remarks to be a comment made on social media. He added that, as a matter of principle, the Commission does not generally comment on such comments.
Another Commission spokesperson, Christian Wigand, responded by pointing out that the European Union and its member states remain the largest donors of military aid to Ukraine.
Scale of EU support
Wigand said the EU had provided Ukraine with more than 220 billion euros in total. That figure includes 87 billion euros in general support aimed at strengthening Ukraine's military and defense capabilities, of which roughly 8.5 billion euros came through the Ukraine Support Loan, he said.
The European Commission is the executive arm of the European Union, responsible for coordinating the bloc's collective response to Russia's war on Ukraine, including funding channeled through joint EU instruments such as the Ukraine Support Loan.
Talks among EU foreign ministers
Wigand also said that further support for Ukraine was among the topics discussed at an informal meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers held in Ireland on September 1 and 2.
On September 3, Trump said he would demand that Europe pay, though somewhat belatedly, for the aid the United States gave Ukraine during Biden's presidency. Trump has previously approved a policy shift under which the United States now sells weapons to Ukraine rather than providing them as grants, a change he has framed as correcting what he considers an unfair arrangement under his predecessor.
The European Commission has not indicated whether it expects a formal request from Washington to follow, and Gill's comments suggest officials in Brussels are treating Trump's remarks as a public statement rather than a diplomatic demand for now.
