Red tape, potholes & politics hamper NATO’s defence efforts as the Russia threat rises

“What we have learned from Russia's war against Ukraine is, we’ve been reminded actually that war is a test of will, and it’s a test of logistics”

Europe is waking up to a new need to defend itself since Russia invaded Ukraine.

As children in Lithuania headed back to class this autumn, some of their schools were marked with new stickers: Hundreds have been designated as bomb shelters. In Finland, defence forces have been assembling modular military fortifications and practising landing jets on the highways.

Planners from the Baltics in the north to Romania in the south are scrutinising potential military reinforcement routes, planning to fortify bridges and adding military transport functions to civilian airports, more than three dozen military and civilian officials across eight European states told Reuters.

After 25 years of fighting conflicts abroad, the NATO alliance suddenly needs to show the enemy it can respond to a threat anywhere along its border, its top military adviser told Reuters.

It is not ready, he said.

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