Preventing the West from Losing the War in Ukraine - Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball

Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball, brought to you by Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow of Friends of Europe and former NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General, provides a weekly overview of the current and emerging crises or threats in security and defence.

Using his past experience as an ex-NATO insider, his in-depth knowledge and insights gained throughout the years, Jamie casts his eye on the state of geopolitics in Europe and across the globe. He brings an independent view and essential insight into a range of conflicts and emerging threats on our shores and further afield.

Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball is essential viewing for anyone who wants to keep track of events as they unfold.

This week on Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball, Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe, examines whether Russia is really losing the war in Ukraine or if the tide recently turned against the West and Ukraine. Not only have recent events on the battlefield greatly favoured Putin’s military forces and ambitions, but the Russian economy is still standing and supporting the war in spite of Western economic sanctions. Moreover, Shea discusses several signs of war wariness on the Western side, which could threaten the European unity that has been backing Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict. In this context, Shea affirms that the West must make sure that the Ukrainian army does not collapse by increasing weapons supplies and essentially keeping up to the promise Western countries made in terms of other military and financial support. Europe should also ramp up the pressure on Russian energy supplies which effectively finance Russia’s operations. Additionally, the West should think about how the war in Ukraine could end and agree on the conditions Russia will have to fulfil to see sanctions being lifted, as well as decide which sanctions should be kept in the longer term.