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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
I got a bit carried away and searched through open sources information about how European countries are preparing for a possible direct conflict with Russia, writes Odessa resident Zoya Kazanzhy on Facebook.
She writes: “How did it happen that Russia, Iran, and North Korea, under sanctions, continue to release missiles, and we, having fairly strong countries in Europe among our allies (let's not even talk about the United States, we read the news), are not releasing not even a sufficient amount, but even any.”
Billions in defense contracts. The largest defense budget, daily donations from people, however much they are reduced, but we still send money to the Armed Forces. And?
On the one hand, four years of war have brought Ukraine a huge step forward in protecting its citizens. Yes, no matter how you squint, but compared with 2022, it is really a huge step. Of course, it is still not enough.
On the other hand, the number and scale of Russian strikes are growing faster than we can build something.
I got a bit carried away and searched through open sources information about how European countries are preparing for a possible direct conflict with Russia.
After the invasion of Russian scumbags into us, Europeans reviewed their defense policy.
1. Finland is considered the benchmark for war readiness. The network of underground shelters can shelter simultaneously more than 80 percent of the population. Underground there are parking lots, pools, sports facilities, which can turn into shelters within a few hours. Mandatory military service for men and one of the largest prepared reserves in Europe — about 280 thousand soldiers ready for rapid mobilization. The state supports large stocks of fuel, food, medicines, and critical materials. Preparation involves the army, business, municipalities, and citizens.
2. Denmark this year began conscripting women and increased service terms from 4 to 11 months. New military specialties are introduced and defense of Greenland and the Arctic is strengthened.
3. Sweden, after joining NATO, is sharply increasing defense readiness. Conscription has been restored. Every household received an updated brochure “In Case of a Crisis or War” with practical advice. The population is advised to have a water and food supply and essential items for at least a week. Shelters are actively being rebuilt. Particular attention is paid to Gotland Island, which has become one of the key defense areas in the Baltic Sea.
4. Poland is building one of Europe’s strongest armies. With new modern equipment and technologies, defense spending exceeds 4 percent of GDP. Hundreds of tanks, HIMARS, Patriot, F-35 and other modern weapons are being procured. Military and security training has been reintroduced in schools. Along the border with Belarus, an engineering fortifications system has been created.
5. The Baltic states are building so-called “Baltic defense lines.” These are concrete fortifications, anti-tank barriers, mine plans. Lithuania and Latvia are creating a “drone wall” system to monitor borders, natural defense lines are being restored (swampy areas). Regular civil defense drills are held.
6. Germany is moving to the largest rearmament since the Cold War, restoring civil defense plans and expanding the shelter network. With German pedantry and precision. Plans include returning certain elements of military duty.
7. Norway is increasing military presence in the Arctic and greatly increasing defense spending. And the conscription system already covers both men and women.
Northern European countries — Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the Baltic states, Poland, and Germany — are already coordinating joint civil defense plans. National and international media report on readiness for such actions:
• evacuation of the population across borders;
• protection of critical infrastructure;
• joint exercises;
• coordination of civilian and military structures.
The experience of Ukraine has been very useful for Europeans. As bitter as it is to admit, we have become a laboratory mice.
The Europeans have understood and are abandoning the notion that war is only about the army. Countries are moving to a model of “total readiness.”
And what about us? And I’m not talking about the Armed Forces now. I’m talking about what has unsettled our Facebook over the past few days.
1. Shelters — objectively there are more of them, but the quality is a problem. According to official data, Ukraine has about 61 thousand civil protection structures of various types. When checks and repairs began, some were brought into working order, but a significant portion has not been reconstructed and does not meet modern requirements. For Kyiv, for example: formally the city has over 4,3 thousand shelters, but only about 500 of them are full-fledged bomb shelters.
2. Schools, hospitals, and other social infrastructure. New schools are necessarily designed with protective structures, and separate underground shelters are built for educational institutions. But this is catastrophically not enough. Children study remotely. Those who remain in the country.
3. Energy — the energy system has essentially been rebuilt. The International Energy Agency considers decentralization as one of the main ways to increase our country’s resilience. Much has been done here — from engineering protections and autonomous power for critical facilities to the development of distributed generation.
4. Preparation for winter — this is a problem. We are told, on the one hand, that massive attacks on energy are being prepared, and on the other, to think about where everyone will winter.
The country has many problems — in the fifth year of war, we are as if in the first. We have totally ill-suited old basements for defense, not modern shelters. We do not even have large underground complexes like the Finns. The protection of critical infrastructure is in question. It’s good that at least, in general, not all details are disclosed for security reasons. But there is no confidence that everything is under control.
We are not Finland, which began building the civil defense system decades earlier. Its underground facilities were designed during peacetime and became part of the urban infrastructure.
And we received both war and total unpreparedness for it. And were forced to adapt on the go. And we have adapted to a great extent. The banking system did not collapse. Ukrzaliznytsia survived and continues to operate. Retail networks. Nova Poshta and so on. And often this is all — despite everything.
And I think that if everyone in the country, those who make decisions, worked for the country, exclusively for the country, we would surely have a different level of everything. And protection — too. With missiles and a sufficient number of shelters.
And for now, I am forced to think about a plan B. Which I definitely do not have. Do you have one?
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Одеситка «заморочилась» і пошукала у відкритих джерелах, як європейські країни готуються до можливого прямого конфлікту з РФ". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Zaraz.
