Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has said that Europe is not strong enough to withstand Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on its own and has to rely on US support.
During a visit to Australia, the leader of the pending NATO member said that Europe’s defenses must be strengthened.
“I have to be brutally honest with you, Europe is not that strong at the moment,” he said. “We’d be in trouble without America.”
The United States is by far the largest donor of military aid to Ukraine.
Since the start of the war in February, it has pledged 18.6bn (€17.7bn; £15.2bn) in support, an investigative briefing by Britain’s House of Commons said last month.
The second largest donor is the European Union, followed by the United Kingdom, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. But their contributions are less than those of the United States.
And with European countries supplying Ukraine drawing down military reserves, Ms Marin said more needed to be done to strengthen European defences.
Speaking at the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney on Friday, Ms Marin said: “The US has given Ukraine a lot of weapons, a lot of financial aid, a lot of humanitarian aid and Europe is not strong enough yet.”
He added that Europe must ensure that “when it comes to European defence, a European defense industry, and to ensure that we can cope with different types of situations”.
While in office, US President Donald Trump regularly criticized European countries in NATO for not spending enough on defense.
