Ukraine needs support, but Europe needs Ukraine's protection even more

After decades of shifting the responsibility for European security to the Americans, the Old World suddenly realized that it might be that European security would depend solely on Europeans. And this happened at the most difficult time since World War II, when European unity and NATO's effectiveness are being tested by Russia's aggression, which seeks to split the West.

But the good news is that the complexity of the challenges is well understood by key European countries. Among the non-key countries, there is also such an understanding. The only exceptions are Hungary and, with some reservations, Slovakia. But even in the Netherlands, where the far-right won the recent elections, Army Commander-in-Chief Wijnen says that we need to prepare for a possible war with Russia.

“And so Europe is arming itself. It is arming itself so that in the event of war it does not depend on a possible unpredictable US president. Europe is resuming military production and considers it bad form to announce the resumption of cooperation with Putin.”

The bad news is that this realization, as well as the production of weapons, is very slow. Everything is not happening at the pace of a real war, in which Ukraine, in particular, is engaged. It is happening step by step, though confidently, but in a European bureaucratic and slow manner.

However, Ukraine is still getting results from it. Norway and Britain have formed an informal coalition to support Ukraine at sea. Germany is promising to provide the funds that the US has not given, and Poland has been helping everyone since the beginning of the war. And France is focusing on supporting Ukraine's air defense.

In light of the prospect of Trump's return, Ukraine desperately needs Europe's support. But the irony is that Europe now needs Ukraine's support even more. While the US is debating how ready the US is to defend its European partners in the event of war, Ukraine is already deterring Russian aggression, delaying the day when the savage horde will clash with the refined democracies of the Old World.

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About the author. Serhiy Taran, political scientist.

The editors don't always share the opinions expressed by the authors of the blogs.