Ukraine has become the fourth largest arms importer in the world – SIPRI

Ukraine has become fourth in the world in arms imports, – SIPRI Diana Kwasniewska

Ukraine became the fourth in the world in arms imports/Collage 24 Kanal (Photo Ukroboronprom and Kyiv City State Administration)

According to the rating, Ukraine took the fourth place in arms imports in the world. We are talking about data for the last 4 years.

India ranks first, Saudi Arabia and Qatar rank second and third, respectively. These are the data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report.

Ukraine ranked 4th in arms imports

According to their data, Ukraine's global share in imports of major types of weapons in 2019–2023 was 4.9%. Only:

• India – 9.8%,
• Saudi Arabia – 8.4%,
• Qatar – 7.6%.

Ukraine has become fourth in the world in arms imports/Screenshot

< p>In turn, Russia during 2019 – 2023 imported weapons in the global volume only 0.2%.

Ukraine became the largest European arms importer in 2019–2023 and the fourth largest in the world after at least 30 states supplied Ukraine with major weapons as military aid since February 2022, the researchers said.

In March 2024, they explained that European countries almost doubled imports of major weapons (+94%) in 2019–2023 compared to 2014–2018.

In the report The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said that in 2023, estimated global military spending increased by 6.8% to more than $2.4 trillion.

“In As a result, the global military burden—global military spending as a share of global gross domestic product (GDP)—rose to 2.3 percent. Governments allocated an average of 6.9 percent of their budgets to the military, or $306 per person,” the researchers concluded. 60~/p>

According to their data, the United States spent the most on weapons – $916 billion. This exceeded the total spending of 9 other countries in the top ten, and was also 3.1 times that of China, which is the second largest military expenditure.

The experts added that:

• due to the war in Ukraine, 39 of 43 European countries increased defense spending;
• The United States and Russia own 90% of the world's nuclear arsenal.

Ukraine needs to increase its capabilities on weapons

Vladimir Zelensky at the Peace Summit on June 16 said that the priority task of the Defense Forces on the battlefield is to allow Russia to advance in the Kharkov region. However, the president did not reveal his plans on the battlefield.

Regarding weapons, Zelensky noted in April that Ukraine needs to develop its own defense industry. According to him, more than 500 enterprises of the military-industrial complex operate on our territory. air-to-air”.