The Russian invasion of Ukraine has definitely made NATO many times stronger, more united and stable

Written by Dritan Demiraj

The NATO summit in Madrid ended on June 28-30, and it is already clear that the new strategic mission of the USA is the defense of Europe, while after the invasion of Ukraine, the next battlefield may be Europe.

While the war in Ukraine for four months is intensifying more and more, this conflict has shown that this war is the only security for stopping the Russian invasion towards the countries of the European Union in general and especially towards the three Baltic countries and Poland.

In my judgment, Europe has no other option but simply and only to prepare for a possible conflict in the near future. This is also the latest assessment of the USA, which has finally decided to significantly increase its military presence in Europe.

In addition to the USA, Germany and Great Britain have also decided to increase their military presence in Europe, further strengthening NATO’s Eastern Wing.

American President Joe Biden stated during the Summit that: “We are more determined than ever to implement Article 5, which means that an attack on one country is an attack on the entire alliance. We are determined to defend every inch of NATO territory. Together with the other 29 allies, we are ready to respond to threats from all directions through our entire territory on land, sea and air.”

The two main conclusions of the NATO Summit were that:

1. Putin cannot be trusted.
2. US allies in Europe feel threatened for this purpose as well

President Biden has ordered to mobilize the American army even further.

This means that very soon, a larger American contingent will be deployed in Europe. Where exactly will these forces be deployed?

A reinforced American brigade will immediately be stationed in Romania, consisting of 2,000 American troops, in addition to the 3,000 already stationed in this country since before the invasion. The USA will deploy in Great Britain 2 squadrons of F-35 aircraft, in Spain they will deploy two additional destroyers, while four more American destroyers are in full readiness already stationed in Spain. In addition, the US will deploy several additional units of more sophisticated air defense missiles to Germany and Italy

The largest U.S. military deployment will take place in Poland, where for the first time the U.S. will establish a permanent operational command, the U.S. 5th Army Corps Command, which is a direct combat force with most modern equipment.

Today, the US has more than 100,000 troops deployed, compared to about 80,000 before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. After the invasion, the US immediately sent 20,000 additional combat troops.

Meanwhile, Great Britain and Germany have decided to increase the number of military troops. Britain will send an additional 1,000 troops to Estonia, while there are 2,000 deployed in the country. Two squadrons of attack aircraft along with the aircraft carrier “Queen Elizabeth” are on full alert. Germany will order a combat brigade to be sent to Lithuania.

So, for the first time, NATO is moving in a movement which is considered as ‘aggressive’.

NATO’s Eastern Front today consists of eight countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, which are the countries that could face each other directly if the conflict escalates further.

Specifically, today in Estonia there are 2,200 NATO troops and 10,500 of its army, in Poland there are 3,481 NATO soldiers and 58,432 of its own. Today, there are 324,000 soldiers of the USA and eight NATO countries on the entire Eastern Front of NATO. In these moments, Finland and Sweden have also added to the request to join NATO.

According to Vladimir Putin, “NATO’s latest moves are moves that show imperial ambitions.” Regarding the membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO, he stated that: “We have no problem with the expansion of NATO, but in case they deploy military infrastructure in Finland and Sweden, we will also react differently by deploying our weapons”.

What does this mean?

This means that in the future Russia will deploy on this front its most modern nuclear weapons, strategic aircraft, supersonic missile systems, the most modern S-400, S-500, S-550 air defense systems, the most modern submarines, will build new military bases but not only.

In conclusion, one thing is clear.

This invasion has really caused the deaths of thousands of innocent Ukrainian citizens and soldiers, destroyed its infrastructure in more than 35 percent of the country, but ultimately made NATO many times stronger, more united and more determined.