NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte presented his annual report for 2025 on Thursday at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels.
In a conversation with reporters, he noted that last year NATO “started a new chapter“ and redefined its approach to defense spending. “We have made significant progress in investing in defense and NATO is stronger than ever. In 2025, for the first time, all allies met the goal agreed in 2014 to invest at least 2% of GDP in defense. And many of them have gone much further“, Rutte said. He noted that European countries in the bloc and Canada have increased their defense spending by 20% compared to 2024.
“Continuing this key trend will be a priority in the coming years. For too long, European allies and Canada have relied excessively on US military power. We have not taken sufficient responsibility for our own security.“ “But there has been a real change in thinking - a collective recognition of the changed security environment,” Rutte explained. The alliance leader has repeatedly reiterated that this would not have been possible without the influence of the United States and Donald Trump.
The report shows that by 2025, all alliance countries will have achieved the target of 2% of GDP on military spending, compared to only two-thirds of alliance members the previous year. Among European countries, according to forecast data, the highest indicators for 2025 are Poland (spending 4.4% of GDP on defense), Lithuania (4%), Latvia (3.7%), Estonia (3.4%), Denmark (3.3%) and Norway (3.2%). Next is the United States, which is estimated to have spent 3.1% of GDP on military purposes. In absolute terms, the United States is the clear leader with $980 billion. The European allies and Canada spent a total of $574 billion on military spending in 2025, equivalent to 2.33% of their combined GDP. The allies’ combined spending on basic defense needs in 2025 will amount to more than $1.4 trillion.
Among the countries that have yet to break the 2% of GDP threshold are Portugal, Canada, Belgium, Albania and Spain. Spain was the only member of the alliance that refused to increase defense spending to 5%, as Trump demanded, at last year’s NATO summit in The Hague. However, Rutte noted that the kingdom “is doing well” and increased defense spending last year from 1.4% of GDP to 2%. “There were indeed differences of opinion at the summit. "We think Spain should spend 3.5% of GDP on general military spending, while Spain thinks it should spend 2.2%. We'll see who's right and how things develop. But given the progress made last year, I can only praise Spain so far," he said.
At last year's NATO summit in The Hague, alliance members agreed to spend 5% of GDP on defense. Rutte then proposed a compromise: the bloc's annual defense spending would increase to 3.5% of GDP, with an additional 1.5% of GDP allocated to developing infrastructure that could be used for military purposes, such as bridges, railways and ports.
However, this formula also failed to satisfy Spain. It was only in May 2025 that it reaffirmed its commitment to achieving the 2% of GDP target by the end of the year and requested exceptions. Madrid explained that such an increase in military spending would jeopardize the financing of social services. The alliance complied, setting the deadline for implementing these commitments at 2035, not 2032, as Rutte had proposed. However, the final communiqué did not mention exceptions, only noting that “the dynamics and balance of spending within this plan will be reviewed in 2029, taking into account the strategic situation and updated objectives“.
The report notes that Russia remains “the most significant and direct threat“ to NATO. To protect the allies' critical infrastructure at sea, the alliance has launched the “Baltic Guard“ project and the "Eastern Guard" initiative to strengthen deterrence and defense on its eastern flank. "Having more forces ready to act on land, at sea and in the air sends a powerful signal of allied solidarity, strength and determination," Rutte said.
In the fall of 2025, violations of EU airspace by unidentified drones increased. Authorities in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania reported incidents. Some European countries believe the drones were launched from Russia.
Operation “Eastern Sentinel“ launched in September 2025. The alliance's report notes that this initiative “has further strengthened“ NATO's position in the east, as it includes the deployment of air, land and sea assets in tandem with innovative technologies to combat drones. “This approach has increased NATO's ability and readiness to defend its allies and will facilitate further adaptation, for example, of the alliance's integrated air and missile defense system“, the authors write.
In October, the EU, in close cooperation with NATO, presented the “Eastern Flank Control“ project, which envisages the creation of a comprehensive defense system to counter a wide range of threats, including hybrid operations, stealth fleet activities and the risk of armed aggression. This initiative will use multi-layered surveillance systems, counter-drone technologies, electronic warfare capabilities and precision strike systems. Eastern Flank Watch is expected to be operational by the end of 2028.
NATO launched the Baltic Flank Watch project in January 2025 after a series of incidents involving damage to critical underwater infrastructure (power and communication cables) in the Baltic Sea.
To prevent potential attacks, the alliance has deployed submarines, patrol aircraft, drones and other systems to the area for several weeks. “The alliance continues to increase its support to partner countries in preparing for and countering hybrid threats“, the statement said. “Cooperation with the private sector has been strengthened, for example through the NATO Critical Underwater Infrastructure Network and the Integrated Cyber Defence Centre“, the report notes.
The section entitled “Readiness: Enhancing readiness“ notes that NATO continues to maintain a presence on its eastern flank, including through multinational Forward Land Units (FLUs) deployed in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
This allows Allied forces to conduct annual exercises to develop and demonstrate their ability to rapidly increase their numbers to brigade-level when and where needed. “In the future, NATO will also strengthen its defences on its northern flank through the Finnish FLUs. All these deployments are defensive and proportionate“, the report states.
The Ukraine section notes that NATO continues to provide support “with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace“. In this regard, the alliance attaches particular importance to the purchase of American weapons for the Ukrainian armed forces by European countries under the PURL (Priority Requirements List) scheme.
At the press conference, Rutte stressed that NATO's security is closely linked to Ukraine's security. “That is why in 2025, the Allies provided the bulk of their military assistance to Ukraine through PURL. This was in addition to ongoing humanitarian support and other forms of non-lethal assistance. Last February, we also opened the first joint NATO-Ukraine center in Poland to share lessons learned from combat operations,” he noted.
The PURL program was agreed in July 2025 after the US administration refused to continue military supplies to Ukraine. Under the program, Ukraine compiles a monthly list of necessary weapons, produced exclusively in the US, which Europeans then purchase. Participants in the initiative include the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Canada, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Iceland, Finland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Portugal and Spain. In early December 2025, New Zealand and Australia, which are not NATO members, joined PURL. By the beginning of 2026, under the PURL agreement, the allies have committed to allocate approximately $ 4.5 billion in weapons to Ukraine.
Journalists asked Rutte to comment on reports that the United States may redirect weapons intended for Ukraine to the Middle East, where it continues its operations against Iran.
The Secretary General of the Alliance assured that the supply of American weapons under the PURL, including interceptor missiles, continues. “Since its launch last summer, approximately 75% of all missiles for Ukrainian Patriot batteries and 90% of ammunition used in other air defense systems have been delivered through PURL. This is an important program, which, I repeat, continues,” he specified.
The report also notes that the Alliance continues to support Kiev through the NSATU Trust Fund (a UK-led NATO initiative to provide security assistance and training to Ukraine).
Through this fund, the Allies are addressing the country's immediate needs. By 2025, member states have contributed approximately €198 million to the fund. In addition, the Alliance intends to further deepen cooperation with Ukraine in the defense industry sector. Last year, NATO developed a plan to strengthen support for Ukrainian industry, including through new sources of investment, as well as "integrating the republic's industry into the Allied industrial ecosystem."
Rutte called the agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine between the Europeans and the United States an "achievement" at the meeting of the "Coalition of the Willing" in Paris in January. "First of all, we all want this war to end. This concerns the United States, the European part of NATO, Canada, and also Ukraine. Ukraine also wants the war to end, but this must be a long-term peace. And this means that after the war we must be confident that Ukraine is sovereign and secure.
We see how the peace process is accelerating thanks to President Trump. But the key to all this is security guarantees“, explained the NATO Secretary General. At the same time, answering journalists' questions whether he considers Ukraine's territorial refusal in exchange for security guarantees a fair deal, Rutte noted that “any decisions on territorial issues must be made by Ukraine“.