Ukraine’s arms imports have increased dramatically, with the country becoming the largest recipient of heavy weapons globally between 2020 and 2024.
Ukraine Replaces India As World’s Top Arms Importer
Ukraine’s arms imports have increased dramatically, with the country becoming the largest recipient of heavy weapons globally between 2020 and 2024. During this period, Ukraine’s arms imports rose nearly a hundredfold compared to the previous five years, with almost 9% of all global arms exports going to Ukraine.
Russia remains India’s largest arms supplier, accounting for 36 per cent of its imports during 2020-24. However, this share is significantly lower than in previous periods, such as 55 per cent in 2015-19 and 72 per cent in 2010-14. The surge in European arms imports, which increased by 155% from 2020 to 2024, is also attributed to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as other European nations have sought to bolster their defences in response to Russian aggression.
India, which had previously been the world’s largest arms importer, saw its share of global arms imports decline from 9.8% to 8.3% during the same period. The SIPRI report shows considerable decline in Moscow’s arms sale and the southward journey began before the Ukraine war. Arms exports by Russia dropped by 64% between 2015–19 and 2020–24.
Despite recent public declarations from the two sides that relations between India and Russia remain friendly, the shift is visible in India’s new and planned orders for major arms, most of which will come from Western suppliers. The new analysis comes at a time when India’s defence production target is likely to touch Rs 1.6 lakh crore in the next fiscal with an export target of Rs 30,000 crore.
