NATO has set out a planned near-term increase to defence spending by its member nations, as the alliance continues to evolve in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The western military grouping’s current baseline target is pegged at the equivalent of 2% of a nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), but that threshold – which was met by only 22 of its 32 members last year – falls far short of a requirement to protect the nations while also delivering equipment support to Kyiv.

An outline of the proposed updated terms was provided following a meeting between defence ministers in Brussels on 5 June.

“The proposal calls for allies to invest 5% of GDP in defence,” NATO says. Of that total, 3.5% should represent “core defence spending”, with the additional 1.5% to be allocated to “defence and security-related investment, including in infrastructure and resilience”. Financial support for a nation’s defence industrial base also would be included within the latter category.

“We agreed on an ambitious new set of capability targets,” says NATO secretary general Mark Rutte. “These describe exactly what capabilities allies need to invest in over the coming years.

“Agreeing on what we need was a vital first step. To deliver on these needs, allies will need to invest much more in defence, and that is now the work ahead of us – to agree a new defence investment plan that will ensure we have enough resources to be able to deter and defend in this more dangerous world.”

Rutte had earlier this year called for a “quantum leap” in the alliance’s spending, as NATO detailed a collective total outlay of $1.3 trillion for 2024.

The alliance expects the new investment plan to be approved during the NATO Summit in The Hague, the Netherlands, from 24-25 June.

Rutte notes that unlike with previous alliance-wide spending commitments, such as its existing 2% target, which was set in 2014, “Nations will commit to yearly plans, showing the [planned] increase each year.”

While no date has yet been agreed for reaching the new baseline, he indicates that the target is “in the foreseeable future”.

Referring to desired capabilities, he says: “There are still many, many gaps, and with the Russians reconstituting themselves we cannot afford to risk that we still have those gaps in a couple of years.”

“Allies understand this is necessary,” he adds, referring to “broad-based support” for the collective spending increase during the ministerial meeting.

“NATO’s deterrence is strong today, and through the decisions we have taken at this ministerial, we are making sure that it remains strong for tomorrow,” he says.

Meanwhile, noting that NATO allies have pledged more than €20 billion ($22.8 billion) in support to Ukraine so far for this year, Rutte says: “We all want to see this war brought to an end with a just and lasting peace.”