Ukraine has become Europe’s largest importer of weapons
11 March 2024 12:19
In 2019-2023, Ukraine became the largest European arms importer in Europe. This is evidenced by data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Kommersant Ukrainian reports 
Arms imports by European countries were 94 per cent higher in 2019-2023 than in 2014-2018. Ukraine became Europe’s largest arms importer in 2019-2023 and the fourth largest in the world after at least 30 countries supplied weapons as military aid to Ukraine since February 2022.
Around 55% of European arms imports from the United States in 2019-2023 were supplied by the United States, a significant increase from 35% in 2014-2018.
After the United States, the largest arms suppliers were Germany and France, which accounted for 6.4% and 4.6% of imports, respectively.
Over the past two years, there has been a much greater demand for air defence systems in Europe, driven by Russia’s missile attacks against Ukraine.
US arms exports grew by 17 per cent between 2014-2018 and 2019-2023, and their share of total global arms exports increased from 34 per cent to 42 per cent.
For the first time in 25 years, the United States has become the largest arms supplier to Asia and Oceania. The United States accounted for 34 per cent of arms imports by states in the region, compared to 19 per cent by Russia and 13 per cent by China.
India was the largest arms importer in the world. Its arms imports grew by 4.7 per cent between 2014-18 and 2019-2023. While Russia remained India’s top arms supplier (accounting for 36 per cent of its arms imports), this was the first five-year period since 1960-64 that shipments from Russia (or the Soviet Union until 1991) accounted for less than half of India’s arms imports.
According to analysts, in 2019-2023, Russia’s arms exports fell by 53% compared to previous years. In 2019, Russia exported major weapons to 31 states, but in 2023, the aggressor country exported to only 12 states. At the same time, in 2019, Asia and Oceania received 68% of Russia’s total arms exports. India and China account for the largest share of Russian weapons.
