Alongside several of its neighbours, Poland recently celebrated a quarter of a century in NATO. Seen as a means of ensuring the country’s transition to democracy, membership of the Alliance has allowed Warsaw to become a key player in European security. Despite this, it is clear that real challenges lie ahead.

An interview with Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of NATO. Interviewer: Vazha Tavberidze.

Kyiv’s recent performances on the battlefield have been hampered by unreliable supplies of aid from its allies. In response, Prague has tasked itself with purchasing large amounts of ammunition in an effort that will hopefully encourage similar action from other western states.

Russia's seizure of Avdiivka can be attributed primarily to three factors: a substantial military escalation by Putin, a lack of clear objectives from the western world, and a disparity between western promises of support for Ukraine and their actual delivery.

After decades of enforced neutrality, Finland became a member of NATO in April last year, thereby almost doubling the Alliance’s land border with Russia. Helsinki's accession represents a radical change in Nordic and Baltic security. The country brings to NATO not only enormous combat potential and knowledge of Russia but also a strategic location.

No matter the ultimate outcome, a “Darkest Hour” winter beckons for Ukraine amidst questions over western resolve. So, does the Free World really have the stomach to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes (to win)”? And can the West really “mobilize” to this end, as the returning Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk recently demanded?

Throughout almost the entire period of Ukraine’s independence after the fall of the Soviet Union, the idea of NATO membership remained a contentious topic with little support among both society and politicians. It was not until the Russian aggression in 2014 and full-scale invasion of 2022 that Ukraine's perspective on its place in the transatlantic Alliance decisively changed.

During the Cold War, there was often a risk that tensions could escalate into a “Third World War”. The presence of nuclear weapons on both sides of the confrontation, led by the United States and the Soviet Union, respectively, as well as the creation of NATO in 1949 and the Warsaw Pact in 1955, were meant to act as deterrents to this escalation and successfully avoid direct confrontation.

As Ukraine has been trying to re-route its crucial wheat and corn exports via its ports on the Danube river, Russia has begun targeting them. Their proximity to Romania creates a significant risk to the local residents, who feel their concerns remain unaddressed. Drones or fragment of drones have already crashed on this NATO country’s territory, with little recourse.

“The sky was lighting up from the tracer ammunition fired by the Ukrainians and you could see the outline of the drones. The last one crashed at 00:20 – I can show you on my surveillance cameras how loud the bang was. And I told myself: this is one hundred per cent in Romania,” recalls Neculae Marian, a resident of the city of Tulcea who owns a house in the village of Plauru. Following multiple crashes of Russian drones on Romanian territory around the settlement, confidence is low and frustrations towards the country’s decision-makers are at a high. Neculae becomes visibly irate when talking about the government’s response and argues that the authorities have been consistently disingenuous about the risks faced by the local population.

Over the past two months, Romania has been a victim of the Russian army's clumsiness. Several Shahed drones have crashed in the hamlet of Plauru, on NATO territory. Local residents now live in const ant fear of future attacks.

An interview with Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, former chairman of the NATO Military Committee and Italian defence minister. Interviewer: Vazha Tavberidze.

The inability of some NATO Allies in the West to not see the bigger picture in Ukraine is costing lives every day. While states in the region continue to raise the alarm, many of their partners are still frozen with indecision.

On April 25th 2023, New Eastern Europe hosted an expert roundtable discussion on the current lessons learnt from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and to prepare recommendations for NATO and its member countries ahead of the July 2023 summit in Vilnius. The summary of this roundtable, with some important lessons and recommendations, is presented here.