Europe must not lock Ukraine into war of attrition — former Finnish intelligence chief 

Former head of Finnish military intelligence and current Member of the European Parliament Pekka Toveri shared his opinions in an interview on Espreso TV.

"What we [in Europe, ed.] should do now is not focus only on our own short-term national interests but on Ukraine’s needs. We should be willing to take a calculated risk and draw down some of our stockpiles to give Ukraine what it really needs. We still have a lot of material. Europe has more than 5,000 main battle tanks. We have thousands of artillery pieces and millions of shells in storage, and we are producing more every month," Toveri explained.

The MEP stressed that Europe must boost Ukraine's ability to deliver long-range strikes on Russian territory.

"But it is also important to learn from how this war is being fought. We do not want to lock Ukraine into a attritional front-line conflict where Russia sends small infantry units and then relies on artillery to inflict mass casualties. We should do more to support Ukraine’s long-range strike capabilities. The Ukrainians have shown how effective domestically built drones and missiles can be when used against Russian energy infrastructure. About a quarter of Russia’s petroleum infrastructure has been damaged, and fuel shortages are widespread," he added.

He noted that Ukraine's long-range strike capabilities could significantly weaken Russian industry and the economy.

"We should invest more in our own long-range systems so we can produce many more Taurus and Storm Shadow cruise missiles and do so faster. We should also help Ukraine develop similar capabilities so it can conduct long-range strikes more effectively. With those kinds of weapons, Ukraine can seriously degrade the Russian war industry and economy," the MEP concluded.