With the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, we thought we would take a look at how the two countries compared on the basis of military power.
Stronger Military Russia or Ukraine?
The Russian military is significantly stronger than Ukraine and is one of the strongest militaries in the world. According to globalfirepower.com Russia has the second strongest military in the world behind only the United States.
Ukraine ranks #22 in military power which places it well outside the large global powers in terms of strength.
The easiest way to understand the relative powers of each countries military is to look at the amount of spending they allocate towards defense. Ukraine spends under $5 billion dollars per year on their military and defense budget, while Russia spends about $85 billion. You can see that there is a sizeable gap between the two countries in terms of power.
For reference, the United States spends more than the rest of the world combined with over $600 billion in military spending.
Russia vs Ukraine Military
Russia’s military is made up of the following:
- 850,000 active personnel
- 4,173 total aircraft
- 605 total navy
- 12,420 tanks
- 772 fighter aircraft
- 11 frigates
- 30,122 armored vehicles
- 544 attack helicopters
- 15 destroyers
Ukraine’s military is made up of the following:
- 200,000 active personnel
- 318 total aircraft
- 38 total navy
- 2,596 tanks
- 69 fighter aircraft
- 1 frigates
- 12,303 armored vehicles
- 34 attack helicopters
- 0 destroyers
