Key facts
- Hakkanen said Europe spends at most 0.2% of GDP on support for Ukraine, sometimes less.
- Hakkanen backed a pledge of 0.25% of GDP for Ukraine, a level Kyiv has identified as needed.
- Hakkanen said Estonia and Lithuania have already pledged the 0.25% of GDP level.
- Hakkanen named Belgium and Spain among countries spending the lowest percentages of GDP on defense.
- Hakkanen said Europe's exclusion from some peace talks with Russia shows weak Europeans lack a seat at the table.
- Finland shares a 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) border with Russia.
Finland's defense minister, Antti Hakkanen, said in a group interview with journalists in Helsinki on November 5 that no European country should shirk its responsibility for defense spending and financial support to Ukraine. He said that if Russia identifies a political opportunity to attack Europe, it can use power to challenge European values, and that this does not stop at Ukraine.
Hakkanen said Europe is spending at most 0.2% of its GDP on support for Ukraine, sometimes less, and called that nothing. He backed a pledge to provide 0.25% of GDP in support of Ukraine, a percentage Kyiv has identified as the right level to keep it financially afloat, and said Estonia and Lithuania have already pledged it. He said Ukraine's two big challenges are money and air defense, and that money should have been the easiest for Europe.
Asked by journalists from Belgium and Spain, Hakkanen named both countries among those spending the lowest percentages of GDP on defense. He warned that if Europe fails to bolster its defenses, the whole of Europe will be in chaos. He said Europe's exclusion from some peace talks with Russia makes clear that if Europeans are too weak, they do not have a seat at the table.
Hakkanen said Finland maintains its own independent analysis of the threat posed by Russia but sees no difference between Finnish security interests and those of Europe as a whole. He said what Finland needs to defend itself, Europe needs, and that Finland's analysis is appreciated by many European allies. Finland has in recent years increased its defense spending, become a major supporter of Ukraine and further integrated itself into NATO, which it joined in 2023. It shares a 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) border with Russia.