Governments around the world are reviewing military doctrines, weaponry, military equipment and supply routes because of Russia's war against Ukraine. A year after the start of Russia's armed invasion of Ukraine, a new arms race has started in the world, Bloomberg agency stated, citing sources and open data.

As the agency noted, military strategies are being revised not only by European countries, but also by the United States, China, Taiwan and India. Many countries located close to Ukraine, dramatically increased spending on defense, expanded production capacity of the military industry, and also increased the number of tanks, artillery and air defense systems in service.

As Bloomberg analysts note, some U.S. officials view the security situations in Europe and Asia as interconnected or unified. Awareness of risks from nuclear war to food problems has grown in the G7 countries and some BRICS countries.

Increased military spending in NATO

Bloomberg notes that defense spending by NATO countries declined steadily from the 1980s to 2022, but began to rise after Russian troops entered Ukraine. In 2023, Poland's defense spending more than doubled. From the country's budget, 97.4 billion zlotys (20.39 billion euros) will be allocated for the defense sector, and another 30 to 40 billion zlotys (6.3-8.4 billion euros) will come from the extra-budgetary army fund. In total, Poland's defense spending will reach 4 percent of GDP.

Bloomberg reminds that last year Germany created a special fund of 100 billion euros to finance the country's military budget. According to the agency, in 2024, Germany's defense budget will increase by another 10 billion euros. France is also increasing its military spending. The country's government last year announced the allocation of 400 billion euros for defense spending in 2024 - 2030s, which is a third more than past military spending, the agency said.

Fears of the alliance countries

According to Bloomberg, the NATO countries fear that in the event of a military conflict their arsenals will be used up too quickly. According to the newspaper's interlocutors, the Russian military in Donbass may fire as many heavy artillery shells in a week as shells for Caesar howitzers were used during 13 years of the Western presence in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Mali, and Iraq. Britain also believes that the country's entire stockpile of 155mm artillery shells would have been used up by the Russian military during the fighting in Donbass in two days last summer and by the Ukrainian military in a week.

"This is the story of the end of the post-Cold War era, and it ended on February 24, 2022. All of our armies are going through this, because it's clear now that none - including the US - have the stockpiles that would be needed to deal with a large, high intensity war," military analyst Francois Heisbourg told Bloomberg.

The agency also notes that the war in Ukraine has had a negative impact on arms control around the world. Russia and the U.S. broke off talks on the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). The Wall Street Journal reported on two episodes of Russian violations of the START Treaty: blocking inspections of nuclear facilities and refusing to meet to discuss obstacles encountered in the implementation of the agreement. The meeting was to have been held in Cairo from Nov. 29 to Dec. 6, but Russia canceled it at the last minute, explaining it was due to U.S. hostility.