Rita Odafe
In the wake of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2021, the United States and European countries have provided a large amount of military assistance to the country. According to a new study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Ukraine has become the world’s third largest arms importer in 2022, accounting for 2% of global arms imports. The SIPRI also noted that European arms imports had increased by 47% between 2013 and 2022 due to tensions between Russia and other European states. The United States’ share of arms exports had also risen from 33 to 40%, while Russia’s dropped from 22 to 16%.
However, NATO states have declined Ukraine’s requests for combat aircraft and long-range missiles due to concerns about how they could escalate the war in the country. At the same time, they have supplied such arms to other states involved in conflict, particularly in the Middle East and South Asia. Ukraine has been requesting fighter jets for months to defend its skies and maximize the effectiveness of its combined arms forces during a future counteroffensive, but multiple Western allies have ruled out sending planes at present. On March 8 in Stockholm, EU defense ministers agreed to increase the supply of ammunition to Ukraine, but have yet to reach a “concrete and formal decision.”
