Ukraine will spend 10 times more on defense next year than NATO countries - Secretary General.

The NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, stated that Ukraine plans to spend a significant amount on defense by 2025. He emphasized that this amount would be approximately a quarter of the country's GDP, which is higher than the average for NATO's European allies. Rutte urged other countries to increase their defense budgets.

Mark Rutte expressed his views during a speech in Brussels at an event titled 'To prevent war, we must spend more' in front of representatives from the Carnegie Europe think tank. He noted that Ukraine is already spending nearly a quarter of its GDP on defense, which is a higher figure than most NATO European allies. Rutte reminded that freedom requires great efforts, and if countries do not increase their defense spending, they could pay much more for their security in the future.

Call for increased defense spending

According to Mark Rutte, during the 'Cold War', European countries spent more than 3% of their GDP on defense, which helped them achieve victory. However, after this period ended, defense spending decreased due to reduced security threats. However, the situation has changed now.

The NATO Secretary General recalled that ten years ago, NATO member countries agreed to increase defense spending to 2% of GDP. However, given the growing security threats, countries should spend much more than 2% of their GDP on this goal.

Mark Rutte urged citizens of European countries to demand that their governments increase defense spending and emphasized that this is urgent. He noted that to preserve freedom and a peaceful way of life for people, it is necessary to make a small sacrifice today to ensure security tomorrow.