Thanks to the military aid of the United States and European countries after the Russian invasion, Ukraine in 2022 became the third largest arms importer in the world.

 This is stated in a study by the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

 From 1991 to the end of 2021, Ukraine imported a small amount of the main types of weapons.

 "Thanks to military aid from the US and many European countries after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, this country became the third largest importer of major types of weapons in 2022 (after Qatar and India) and the 14th largest importer in 2018-22" , - says the study.

 It is noted that over a five-year period Ukraine accounted for 2.0% of the world's arms imports.

 "Due to fears that the supply 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, in particular in the Middle East and in South Asia," noted Peter D. Wezeman, senior fellow at SIPRI's Arms Transfer Program.

 On March 8 in Stockholm, EU defense ministers agreed to speed up the supply of artillery shells and buy more ammunition to help Ukraine, but have yet to decide how to implement these plans.

 Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, who was present in Stockholm, called on ministers to support the Estonian plan, according to which EU countries should join forces to purchase 1 million 155 mm shells this year for 4 billion euros.