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Across Europe, support for Ukraine is holding — for now

The rally for Ukraine in Prague on 24 February. Credit: Getty.

February 27, 2023 - 4:00pm

Prague was a sea of blue-and-yellow this weekend to mark the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Light displays, public demonstrations and concerts combined an atmosphere of solemnity with bittersweet celebrations of Ukraine’s continued survival. 

Yet there was another element hidden in the mix, alongside: unease. The war hasn’t been lost, but it hasn’t been won either, despite a level of Western support that looks increasingly hard to sustain. 

Over in Brussels, a tenth package of Russia sanctions was announced to coincide with the symbolic date. Claims from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that EU sanctions are “depleting Russia’s war arsenal and biting deep into its economy” belied the fact that the EU simply can’t touch significant remaining areas of economic cooperation with Russia.  

Calls for sanctions on Russia’s nuclear industry and state nuclear energy company Rosatom were ignored. This is no surprise, because there’s no easy substitute for Russian nuclear fuel in the EU’s many Russian-designed nuclear power plants. Even if replacement fuels could be found, Hungary would veto any sanctions on the Russian nuclear sector, because Rosatom is responsible for building two new nuclear power blocks which are vital to the future of Hungarian electricity supply.  

Other important Russian industries such as the diamond trade escaped sanctions, too, and in the end EU countries were left haggling into the late hours over the minutiae of quotas for Russian rubber imports. Poland’s EU ambassador said Warsaw is “very unhappy” with the outcome — but, for want of a better expression, it looks like Russia sanctions may have run out of gas.  

Perhaps as a result, the West’s focus has shifted this year onto stronger military support for Ukraine. Here too, there is cause for concern, because ramped-up weapons supplies are not all they’re cracked up to be. After spending weeks pressuring Germany to approve Leopard tank deliveries, Poland has started off by providing just four Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine. These Leopards could be the most modern tanks on the planet (they aren’t), but in such small quantities they still wouldn’t make a significant difference across a 600-mile front line.

Support which escalates Western involvement without effectively spurring the Ukrainians on to greater success will be an increasingly hard sell as economic woes make a tangible impact on the lives of EU citizens. In the Czech Republic, the pro-Ukraine government made the unfortunate move of using the war’s anniversary week to announce that it can no longer afford to increase pension payments in line with inflation and that popular tax breaks will also be cut. Significant tax hikes have already been introduced this year in Romania and Poland, while inflation is still running at around 20% throughout much of the region – in Hungary, it is as high as 26.2%.

It matters little that such measures are necessary, and that they are as much the result of pandemic-era profligacy as the Ukraine war. In the current political climate, they will be blamed by most Czechs on the clash with Russia. 

A creeping ‘Orbánisation’ of public opinion therefore seems likely — especially if the war remains locked in a stalemate in the Donbas. As more Europeans start feeling the pinch, their feelings for this war may well change.


William Nattrass is a British journalist based in Prague and news editor of Expats.cz

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Elliott Bjorn
Elliott Bjorn
1 year ago

GOOD!

Time for this evil war to End! PEACE NOW!

One phone call from the loathsome Biden Administration telling the criminal Zalenski that that it it – not one more Billion $ till he makes peace – and Bang! Peace would would explode over the region rather than the corrupt warmongers Bombs.

Wicked, Evil, Cruel, Pointless War. 100% corrupt, completely destroying Europe, and the Globe (enriching USA though), breeding corruption as it blows young men and civilians into mangled bodies and destroys vital productivity of necessities and boosts inflation and global debt……… PEACE NOW!!!!

Mike Doyle
Mike Doyle
1 year ago
Reply to  Elliott Bjorn

That’s not how you spell Putin.

Snapper AG
Snapper AG
1 year ago
Reply to  Elliott Bjorn

What a ridiculous screed. Putin just rejected Xi’s peace overtures. There can be no peace until Russia wants it, and they won’t want it until they are beaten militarily.

Martin Logan
Martin Logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Elliott Bjorn

This won’t end, even if there is dissatisfaction, until at least the end of the year.
That’s just how wars like this play out.

Billy Bob
Billy Bob
1 year ago
Reply to  Elliott Bjorn

I’m not sure if you’d noticed, but Zelensky hasn’t actually got any troops trying to advance across another nations territory, they’re all in Ukraine defending their homeland. Your angry tirades should be aimed at Putin, it’s the Russians who have invaded, and it’s the Russians who could finish this war tomorrow by simply going home

Andy E
Andy E
1 year ago
Reply to  Elliott Bjorn

I wonder if those who support the war would also support plague if it hits far away from their homes. Preferably in Russia.

Mike Doyle
Mike Doyle
1 year ago
Reply to  Elliott Bjorn

That’s not how you spell Putin.

Snapper AG
Snapper AG
1 year ago
Reply to  Elliott Bjorn

What a ridiculous screed. Putin just rejected Xi’s peace overtures. There can be no peace until Russia wants it, and they won’t want it until they are beaten militarily.

Martin Logan
Martin Logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Elliott Bjorn

This won’t end, even if there is dissatisfaction, until at least the end of the year.
That’s just how wars like this play out.

Billy Bob
Billy Bob
1 year ago
Reply to  Elliott Bjorn

I’m not sure if you’d noticed, but Zelensky hasn’t actually got any troops trying to advance across another nations territory, they’re all in Ukraine defending their homeland. Your angry tirades should be aimed at Putin, it’s the Russians who have invaded, and it’s the Russians who could finish this war tomorrow by simply going home

Andy E
Andy E
1 year ago
Reply to  Elliott Bjorn

I wonder if those who support the war would also support plague if it hits far away from their homes. Preferably in Russia.

Elliott Bjorn
Elliott Bjorn
1 year ago

GOOD!

Time for this evil war to End! PEACE NOW!

One phone call from the loathsome Biden Administration telling the criminal Zalenski that that it it – not one more Billion $ till he makes peace – and Bang! Peace would would explode over the region rather than the corrupt warmongers Bombs.

Wicked, Evil, Cruel, Pointless War. 100% corrupt, completely destroying Europe, and the Globe (enriching USA though), breeding corruption as it blows young men and civilians into mangled bodies and destroys vital productivity of necessities and boosts inflation and global debt……… PEACE NOW!!!!

Martin Logan
Martin Logan
1 year ago

Since this is a war, what Ukraine does on the battlefield will decide long before Europe gets tired.

Noel Chiappa
Noel Chiappa
1 year ago
Reply to  Martin Logan

I dunno. Like the Yom Kippur war before it, it is using munitions at a mind-boggling rate. Ukraine can’t keep up on its own.

Noel Chiappa
Noel Chiappa
1 year ago
Reply to  Martin Logan

I dunno. Like the Yom Kippur war before it, it is using munitions at a mind-boggling rate. Ukraine can’t keep up on its own.

Martin Logan
Martin Logan
1 year ago

Since this is a war, what Ukraine does on the battlefield will decide long before Europe gets tired.

Peter B
Peter B
1 year ago

Pension changes in Europe are nothing to do with the war in Ukraine. They have been long overdue and are unavoidable due to European countries nasty habit (Holland partially excepted) of not actually saving anything in retirement savings funds to pay future pensions.
Trying to claim that facing up to pension funding reality is anything to do with the Ukraine war is simply absurd. It had to happen anyway.

Noel Chiappa
Noel Chiappa
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter B

You may understand that, but does the average person in the street? (In the US, I keep having to explain to people that since Social Security is a ‘generation R pays generation P’s benefits’ system, demographic changes – specifically, a falling retiree/work ratio – means something has to give. As I put it, ‘mathematics is mean-spirited’.)

Noel Chiappa
Noel Chiappa
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter B

You may understand that, but does the average person in the street? (In the US, I keep having to explain to people that since Social Security is a ‘generation R pays generation P’s benefits’ system, demographic changes – specifically, a falling retiree/work ratio – means something has to give. As I put it, ‘mathematics is mean-spirited’.)

Peter B
Peter B
1 year ago

Pension changes in Europe are nothing to do with the war in Ukraine. They have been long overdue and are unavoidable due to European countries nasty habit (Holland partially excepted) of not actually saving anything in retirement savings funds to pay future pensions.
Trying to claim that facing up to pension funding reality is anything to do with the Ukraine war is simply absurd. It had to happen anyway.

stephen archer
stephen archer
1 year ago

The downtick trolls are at work.

stephen archer
stephen archer
1 year ago

The downtick trolls are at work.