“I expect 18 allies to spend 2% of their GDP on defence this year,” Jens Stoltenberg said at a news conference in Brussels, adding overall military spending was set for another record year as Russia’s full-fledged war against Ukraine is entering a third year.

Nato’s European states would invest a combined total of US$380 billion in defence this year, Stoltenberg added.

Berlin will meet the 2% target this year for the first time since the end of the Cold War.

In 2023, eleven allies are expected to have met the 2% target according to prior Nato estimates – Poland, the US, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, the UK, and Slovakia.

The new figures come only days after former US president Donald Trump shocked Europeans by suggesting that the US might not protect Nato allies who are not spending enough on defence from a potential Russian invasion.