‘Abandoning Ukraine Would Render Europe Terribly Vulnerable’

European experts have made a general appeal.

About two dozen expert analysts from European countries published an appeal warning against a reduction in Western support for Ukraine, which would force Kyiv to negotiate with the Kremlin and make painful concessions.

The signatories of the appeal address it to citizens and governments of European countries. They speak of “alarm bells ringing” because the Ukrainian army does not have enough weapons for a “war of attrition,” while Western aid has been less than promised, continued US support is in doubt, and Russia is cranking up its arms production.

“Abandoning Ukraine would render Europe terribly vulnerable. We would not return to the Europe of 2021. We would, instead, fall back to a state of permanent insecurity. Europe would be profoundly weakened by the loss of the Ukrainian bulwark and the loss of mutual trust between European states. And we would face an empire emboldened by the demonstration that it can strengthen itself through aggression. It would be a return to the Europe of the 1930s,” the experts note.

The signatories stress that Europe does possess the economic resources to confront Russia, and that the EU in particular has shown how successful it can be when it pools its resources through the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The most urgent measure is to coordinate a vast industrial mobilisation to supply more arms and ammunitions to Ukraine, and eventually, to outproduce Russia,” stated in the letter.

The signatories note that in this way, Russia and its supporters will also understand that the EU also has staying power.

“If we fail to make armament efforts today, we would have to make them tomorrow, and – if Russia achieves its objectives in Ukraine – under significantly more difficult and threatening conditions. And we would have lost precious time.

If we commit ourselves fully to guarantee Ukrainians a European future, Russia would be no match for us. Russia’s strength rests largely on our indecision…The survival of a free and democratic Europe depends on Ukrainian victory,” they underline.

The letter of appeal was published simultaneously by several European news outlets. It has currently been signed by 18 experts from Spain, Belgium, France, Poland, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Germany, Italy, and Ukraine.