Mihkelson calls on allies to help Ukraine win the war — ERR News
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament Marko Mihkelson wrote in a column for ERR News that assumptions about an inevitable Russian attack on Europe do not strengthen deterrence and may weaken NATO’s position. He called on allies to define a clear strategic goal: to help Ukraine win the war and repel Russian aggression.
Russia’s goals and risks for NATO
According to Mihkelson, the Russian Federation, an aggressor state, has not changed its strategic goals. He believes that Moscow seeks to destroy Ukraine’s sovereignty and alter Europe’s security architecture by weakening and ultimately dismantling NATO.
The politician recalled Moscow’s December 2021 ultimatum, in which Russia demanded that NATO withdraw its military infrastructure to the 1997 lines. In his assessment, this concerned not only a settlement regarding Ukraine but also a fundamental revision of Europe’s security system.
Mihkelson noted that Russia can act against the West not only through a conventional military attack. Among the possible tools, he named election interference, the spread of polarizing narratives, the exploitation of political differences, and intimidation. In his view, such actions may be aimed at isolating Ukraine and testing the allies’ readiness to act jointly.
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Proposals for the Coalition of the Willing
The Estonian parliamentarian believes that the Coalition of the Willing should increase military support for Ukraine to at least 0.25% of GDP annually, as well as continue supporting Ukraine’s financial system to cover war-related expenses.
He also proposed preparing a military-humanitarian mission to protect Ukrainian cities and critical strategic infrastructure from massive Russian air attacks. Mihkelson named decisive economic pressure on Russia as the third step, so that its war machine cannot operate at its current scale.
According to the politician, without such actions, new acts of Russian terror are possible in Europe. He suggested that defense companies and their executives could become targets, and that Russia may resort to false-flag operations while attempting to accuse Ukraine of an attack causing casualties in a NATO country.
Mihkelson stressed that fear of decisive actions that could allegedly provoke Moscow is becoming an instrument of Russian escalation. In his view, the allies’ task is not to predict Russia’s next attack, but to demonstrate to it the failure of any aggression.
