Ukraine became the largest importer of weapons in Europe in 2019-2023, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported in its annual report, UNN reported .
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"Ukraine became Europe's largest 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," SIPRI reported .
The country's share in global arms imports amounted to 4.9% in 2019-2023, compared to 0.1% in 2014-2018. At the same time, the overall growth of military imports in 2019-2023 compared to the period of 2014-2018 amounted to a record 6633%. The share of the United States in Ukraine's arms imports in 2019-2023 was reportedly 39%, followed by Germany (14%) and Poland (13%.
The report also indicates that in general, the five largest arms importers in 2019-2023 were India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Ukraine, and Pakistan.
At the same time, arms imports by European countries in 2019-2023 were 94% higher than in 2014-2018.
The 55% of arms imports by European countries that were supplied by the United States in 2019-2023 was a significant increase from 35% in 2014-2018. The next largest suppliers to the region were Germany and France, which accounted for 6.4% and 4.6% of imports, respectively.
"With many expensive weapons on order, including some 800 combat aircraft and attack helicopters, European arms imports are likely to remain high," said Peter Weseman, Senior Fellow at SIPRI's Arms Transfers Program. - "Over the past two years, we have also seen much greater demand for air defense systems in Europe, driven by Russia's missile campaign against Ukraine.