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NATO member states are planning to count newly allocated funds for military aid to Ukraine as “defense-related” spending under a proposal to raise the Alliance’s defense spending target to 5% of GDP.
This was reported by Euractiv, citing five sources familiar with internal discussions.
According to the report, new purchases of military equipment specifically for Ukraine, as well as investments in Ukraine’s defense industry, would be classified by NATO members as part of their “defense-related” expenditures under the proposed targets.
However, the publication notes that this approach could still be revised in the coming weeks ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague on June 24–25.
It is expected that the summit will result in a formal decision to raise the defense spending target from the current 2% of GDP. However, the final details are likely to be worked out at a later stage.
The current NATO proposal calls for each member state to spend at least 5% of GDP annually on defense — 3.5% for core defense areas such as military equipment and troop funding, and an additional 1.5% for broader “defense-related” expenditures.
Ongoing discussions among NATO officials are focused on what exactly should be included in that additional 1.5%, such as cybersecurity, infrastructure investments, resilience measures — and military aid to Ukraine.
There is a general consensus among NATO countries that only new funds allocated to military support for Ukraine will count toward this category, the sources said.
Non-military aid to Ukraine will not be counted toward the defense spending targets.
Two sources argued that including aid to Ukraine in NATO defense spending makes sense, given that arming Ukraine has a direct and positive impact on the security of the Alliance.
