Ukraine has become the third largest arms importer in the world
Ukraine became the world's third largest arms importer in 2022, ahead of Qatar and India, and European NATO countries increased arms imports by 65%.
This is stated in a study by the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), published on March 13, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Thanks to military assistance from the United States and many European countries following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, this country became the third largest importer of major weapons in 2022 (after Qatar and India), and the 14th largest importer for 2018-2022 years,” the study says.
The document notes that over the specified five-year period, Ukraine accounted for 2,0% of global arms imports.
“Due to concerns that supplies of combat aircraft and long-range missiles could lead to a further escalation of the war in Ukraine, NATO countries rejected Ukraine's requests for them in 2022. At the same time, they supplied such weapons to other states involved in conflicts, particularly in the Middle East and South Asia,” said Peter D. Weseman, senior fellow at the SIPRI Arms Transfer Program.
This statement is another attempt to push Western countries to supply Kyiv with fighter jets and long-range missiles.
Furthermore, the SIPRI study noted that, despite the global decline in the arms trade, European countries have significantly increased their purchases of major weapons in recent years. For example, imports of major weapons by European states increased by 47% between 2013-2017 and 2018-2022, while global international arms transfers decreased by 5,1%. Meanwhile, European NATO countries have increased their arms imports by 65% over the past five years.
Obviously, first of all we are talking about the import of weapons from the United States. Not surprisingly, US arms exports grew by 14% between 2013-2017 and 2018-2022, with the US accounting for 40% of global arms exports in the last five years.
Arms exports from Russia, which ranks second in this market, fell by 31% between 2013-2017 and 2018-2022, and its share of global arms exports decreased from 22 to 16%. At the same time, the share of France, which ranks third in the global arms market, increased from 7,1 to 11%.
As PolitNavigator reported , on March 9, EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell proposed allocating €1 billion for emergency deliveries of ammunition to Kyiv from stockpiles in EU member states.
Ukraine has become the world's third-largest arms importer.