Ukraine's Fate and Europe's Future: A View from Sweden

By starting the war with Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has trampled the cooperative and democratic security order in Europe agreed upon in 1990, seeking to replace it with the tyranny of empire. If Russian aggression is not repelled in Ukraine, Moscow will be in a strong position to threaten and coerce the rest of Europe. The West needs to prepare for a long war. Sweden applied for NATO membership out of a sense of moral outrage, but also felt compelled to follow the realist instincts of its close geographical and historical neighbour Finland, which sensed imminent danger. In Europe as in Sweden, idealism and practical compulsion have converged. The West must decisively turn back Russia's assault on Europe's peaceful order by helping Ukrainians preserve their nation substantially intact.