Study: Highest Military Spending in Europe Since Cold War

A British service member unloads a shipment of Britain's security support package for Ukraine, delivered by a C17 Globemaster III aircraft of the Royal Air Force, at the Boryspil International Airport outside Kyiv, Ukraine, February 9, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
A British service member unloads a shipment of Britain's security support package for Ukraine, delivered by a C17 Globemaster III aircraft of the Royal Air Force, at the Boryspil International Airport outside Kyiv, Ukraine, February 9, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
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Study: Highest Military Spending in Europe Since Cold War

A British service member unloads a shipment of Britain's security support package for Ukraine, delivered by a C17 Globemaster III aircraft of the Royal Air Force, at the Boryspil International Airport outside Kyiv, Ukraine, February 9, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
A British service member unloads a shipment of Britain's security support package for Ukraine, delivered by a C17 Globemaster III aircraft of the Royal Air Force, at the Boryspil International Airport outside Kyiv, Ukraine, February 9, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

Europe's military spending grew at a record pace in 2022, reaching a level unseen since the Cold War following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, global security researchers said Monday.

The rise in Europe helped global military expenditures reach an eighth straight record at $2.24 trillion, or 2.2 percent of the world's gross domestic product, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

"It's driven by the war in Ukraine, (which is) driving European budget spending upwards, but also the unresolved and worsening tensions in East Asia between the US and China," researcher Nan Tian, one of the study's co-authors, told AFP.

Europe spent 13 percent more on its armies in 2022 than in the previous 12 months, in a year marked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The figure does not take into account sharp inflation rates, which means actual spending was even higher, the think tank said.

That was the strongest increase in more than 30 years, and a return, in constant dollars, to the level of spending in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell.

"In Europe, it is at its highest level since essentially the end of the Cold War," Tian said.

Ukraine alone increased its spending seven-fold to $44 billion, or a third of its GDP. The country has additionally benefitted from billions of dollars of weapons donations from abroad, SIPRI noted.

At the same time, Russian spending rose by 9.2 percent last year, estimates showed.

"Irrespective of whether you remove the two warring nations, European spending has still has increased by quite a lot," Tian said.

Spending in Europe, which totaled $480 billion in 2022, has already risen by a third in the past decade, and the trend is expected to continue and accelerate over the next decade.

The continent could "potentially" see growth levels similar to 2022 for several years, Tian said.

After declining sharply in the 1990s, global military expenditure has been on the rise since the 2000s.

The upturn was initially the result of China's massive investments in its military, which was then followed by renewed tensions with Russia after its annexation of Crimea in 2014.



Ukraine, US in 'Final Stages' of Agreeing Minerals Deal, Kyiv Says 

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on February 24, 2025, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a meeting with the Western nations' leaders in Kyiv, to mark the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFP)
In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on February 24, 2025, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a meeting with the Western nations' leaders in Kyiv, to mark the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFP)
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Ukraine, US in 'Final Stages' of Agreeing Minerals Deal, Kyiv Says 

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on February 24, 2025, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a meeting with the Western nations' leaders in Kyiv, to mark the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFP)
In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on February 24, 2025, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a meeting with the Western nations' leaders in Kyiv, to mark the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFP)

Ukraine and the United States are in the final stages of negotiating a minerals deal considered central to ending Russia's three-year-old war in Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian official said on Monday.

Kyiv and Washington are both interested in US access to Ukraine's undersoil riches, but President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said any such deal must involve concrete security guarantees.

"Ukrainian and US teams are in the final stages of negotiations regarding the minerals agreement. The negotiations have been very constructive, with nearly all key details finalized," deputy prime minister Olha Stefanishyna wrote on X.

"We hope both US and UA leaders might sign and endorse it in Washington (at) the soonest to showcase our commitment for decades to come."

Trump has said Ukraine should give the US $500 billion in critical raw materials as payback for aid which Kyiv has already received from the previous Joe Biden administration.

Zelenskiy said this week Washington had supplied his country with $67 billion in weapons and $31.5 billion in direct budget support, and that he will not acknowledge Biden-supplied aid as loan.

Zelenskiy refused to sign an initial draft deal earlier this month, sparking frustration in the White House. Senior Trump administration officials said on Sunday they expected an agreement would be signed this week.