FO° Talks: Where Is Ukraine Headed Now? What Does Europe Think?

IDM Director Sebastian Schäffer returned for another edition of FO Talks with Founder, CEO & Editor-in-Chief of Fair Observer, Atul Singh. This time they tackled the ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine, the current situation in the country as well as the different threat perceptions in the Danube Region. Having just returned from Uzhhorod and Lviv, Schäffer talked about his experiences also in comparison to his trip to Kyiv around the same time last year. While his stay in the capital was physically more dangerous, as there have been direct missile attacks, he felt the second trip to be much more psychologically draining. Having only been there for a couple of days each, one can only imagine how the constant attacks on the civilian infrastructure must be for the brave people living under these conditions in Ukraine. Schäffer also gave an assessment on the varying perspectives of countries in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe on the war. According to him they fall into three categories:

(1) governments in countries like Poland, Czechia, and the Baltics that have warned about the possible aggression coming from the Russian Federation,

(2) governments in countries that have to come to terms with this new reality, even if it is a painful and slow process, which would include France, Germany, and also Austria

(3) governments in countries that try to gain benefits for themselves like Hungary, Slovakia, and Serbia, which hopefully will at a certain point realize that they are at the wrong side of history.

 

Read the article here.