Cover Photo: Moschun village in Kyiv region was almost destroyed by Russian troops. But life still wins.

On 24 February 2022 Russia initiated its full-scaled invasion against Ukraine. It has already been two years since Russia’s unjustified aggression which objects Ukraine’s territorial integrity, jeopardizes the life of the Ukrainian population, while challenging the global world order heavily affects the European security architecture.

The terrible experience of the war triggered the unprecedented military and financial support of the West. Since January 2022, the greatest total aid was committed by EU institutions and the Member States reaching at 144,31 billion euros, while the US follows by contributing total 67,7 billion euros. Precisely, in the military aid level instead of the US contribution with 42,2 billion euros, the European countries were also mobilized considerably. The EU and its Member States have provided 28 billion euros worth of military equipment with Germany covering the greatest part of the support with 17,7 billion euros and Estonia committing the 3,6% of its GDP. Moreover, the EU until the 1^st of February 2024 has delivered 330,000 ammunition rounds and trained 40,00 Ukrainian soldiers through the EU Military Assistance Mission (EUMAM) for Ukraine.

However, the US domestic budgetary constraints, the potential of Trump’s re-election, the EU Member States underinvestment and capability gaps within their defence industry and the disagreements regarding the Ukrainian aid ‘s allocation has raised constrains to the western support. Subsequently, the declined support resulted to the “ammo starvation” and limited the performance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This fact raised the need for expanding the international cooperation to reinforce and accelerate the delivery of the assistance.

For this purpose, EUROMIL, since the begging of the war expressed solidarity with the Ukrainian people, workers and trade unions, participated to actions to stop the war and a EUROMIL delegation visited Ukraine to boost concretely the collaboration with the Ukrainian partners. Also, the EUROMIL’s 125^th General Assembly (on April 2022) adopted a declaration calling for a quick and peaceful solution.

In the same statement, EUROMIL emphasizes on the need for concrete plans for post-conflict Ukraine. To elaborate more, since January 2022, the estimated number of the Ukraine Armed Forces is more than 500,000 troops. Also, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine estimates that the number of war veterans and their family members is 851,068, while the prolongation of the conflict will increase this number. EUROMIL is, thus, emphasizing on the future and the well-being of soldiers, veterans, and all combatants. Already today, but especially in post-conflict Ukraine assistance in dealing with mental health issues, societal integration and financial support will be of paramount importance. It should not be neglected that the EU, and other international partners need to be prepared for such tasks as well.

Of course today, support to Ukraine in financial and military terms is essential and urgently needed. However, the international partners maintain an ambiguous and less determined stance without grasping the situation on the ground. Hence, it is important to understand how Ukrainian people have been affected and what their lives are like now and have been for the past two years. For those reasons, EUROMIL provides a room for our Ukrainian partners (UUMS) to be heard and describe the reality of the war and their passion to defend their country and Europe’s freedom and democracy.

Slava Ukraini!

Click on the document to read more: