European leaders in London announced during the weekend that they will work to collect a plan to end the war in Ukraine, but with security guarantees for the country that has been a victim of a full Russian invasion since February 2022.

The meeting in the United Kingdom was closely followed by a catastrophic visit to the White House by Ukrainian President Folodimir Zelinski, during which US President Donald Trump and Vice President J.

Trump explained that the United States will not provide security guarantees for Ukraine, which urges the military forces in Europe to assume responsibility instead.

In meetings with Trump in Washington last week, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Kerr Starmer indicated that the forces are ready to send the forces to Ukraine as a peaceful lawyer if an agreement was reached to end the Russian war.

But can Europe provide Ukraine’s security cover useful, without the United States supported by it? What are the true security capabilities of Europe? How long does the region depend on American support? What is the threat posed by Russia?

What role does the United States play in European security?

The United States has been essential for European security since the end of World War II, when it helped establish the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and deployed hundreds of thousands of soldiers to Europe to challenge the Soviet influence. This security leadership has been kept since then, while expanding its global status of the property.

As of July 2024, the United States had about 65,000 soldiers in active service centered permanently throughout Europe, along with extensive weapons, defense systems and other vital assets of NATO, according to the workforce data center in the United States in the United States.

This includes six weapons stocks in Europe, equipped with cabinets and armored vehicles, eight air swarms, four marine destroyers, and 100 nuclear bombs. In addition, in the United States there are about 10,000 soldiers on rotational publication in Poland – a major part of the East NATO wing with Russia.

To finance its military muscles, the United States relies on the huge defense budget – $ 860 billion in 2024. This is more than twice the number of NATO members, who must defend each other in the event of an attack.

Meanwhile, the United States has provided the majority of direct military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded it in 2022, when it sent about 65 billion dollars, according to the US State Department. When calculating other aid types, the United States allocated about $ 183 billion to respond in Ukraine as of September 30, 2024, According to Ukrainian oversightThe website has been established by the United States government to register aid sent to Ukraine. For its part, the European Union sent a total of $ 141 billion to help to Ukraine, including $ 51 billion of military aid, according to the European Commission.

However, Trump said the time has now come for the United States to retreat militarily from Europe and want its allies on the continent to do more heavy lifting.

“The strategic strategic facts prevent the United States of America from focusing mainly on the security of Europe,” Trump’s Defense Minister Beit Higseth said in A. NATO allies meeting On February 12. “The European allies should lead from the front.”

How strong is the European NATO allies?

NATO European members have 2 million active service soldiers, a small part of them is appointed directly to the service under the leadership of the coalition. Turkiye and Poland have most soldiers, with 481,000 and 216,000, respectively, according to recent NATO estimates.

France and Germany follow, with 205,000 and 186,000 soldiers. The United Kingdom, which offered the sending of peacekeepers to Ukraine under a possible peace deal, has 138,000 soldiers. NATO has a power of 40,000 throughout the eastern side – which extends to Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

Together, European NATO allies have about 7,000 aircraft, 6800 tanks, 2,170 military vessels and six aircraft, according to the Firewite Defense Index.

How can the NATO fee reduce?

Despite its important military origins, NATO still relies heavily on the United States to deter threats in Europe. In the event of a major attack on one of them, like Russia, NATO is likely to expect the United States to rush hundreds of thousands of additional forces to Europe, according to the economic company Tank Tank Bruegel.

If Europe no longer depends on this support, which is strengthened by the advanced military technology and infrastructure in Washington, BRUEGEL estimates that the continent will need to create 50 new brigades, each of which consists of thousands of soldiers, to fill the gap.

You are concerned that European countries feel pressure to raise their defensive spending.

Last week, the United Kingdom announced that it would work Increase defensive spending To 2.5 percent of GDP (GDP) by 2027. British Prime Minister Kiir Starmer said this will add about $ 16 billion every year to the defense budget, which is currently $ 68 billion. “This government will start the biggest continuous increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War,” Station has passed to Parliament.

Germany announced a special fund for more than 100 billion dollars to upgrade and strengthen its army in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which increased its annual defense budget of about $ 52 billion. Last year, the country’s defense budget in the country reached 2 percent of GDP for the first time since the end of the Cold War as part of the NATO goal that was determined in 2014 after the inclusion of Crimea in Ukraine. In a speech in December, the upcoming adviser to Germany, Fredchi -Mirz, confirmed that the army will need “at least $ 84 billion annually” in the future.

After Russia’s invasion of 2022 to Ukraine, NATO allies throughout Europe and Canada increased their spending by 18 percent. Currently, 22 of 30 European NATO members in Europe spend at least 2 percent of GDP on defense, according to what they mentioned. 2023 pledge.

However, Trump argued that this is almost not enough, calling on the states To reinforce the defense Spending at least 5 percent of GDP.

NATO Secretary -General Mark Retti acknowledged Europe’s need to invest more. “We have not paid enough over the past forty years, especially since the Berlin Wall has fallen,” Roti Politico told the Munich Security Conference on February 15. “The United States requires the right to balance it. It is completely logical.”

How do you see NATO Russia?

Russia cited NATO expansion as one of its justifications for the invasion of Ukraine. Since its establishment in 1949, NATO has grown from 12 to 32 members, and has been steadily moving east towards the borders of Russia. At the present time, six members of NATO – four of them, have joined the beginning of the millennium – to Russia, including Finland, Latvia, Estonia and Litwania.

To preserve the Western Military Alliance in the Gulf, Moscow demanded that Ukraine, which has long sought NATO membership outside the group.

“Otherwise, this problem will continue to poison the air on the European continent,” Maria Zakharova said, Maria Zakharova On February 18. The Trump administration, which is pressing for a quick end of the war, said NATO membership is not “realistic” for Ukraine.

But Western European countries view Russia’s aggression as a reason to strengthen the bloc. Since the end of the Cold War, Russia, the world The largest nuclear energyIt has been invaded or occupied by parts of several nearby countries – Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine recently.

The direct military intervention of Russia in Moldova helped in the early 1990s, Russian alignment Gain control of facts From the separation area in Transnistria. And Russia Chargly invaded Georgia in 2008 I dealt with heavy strikes for my Blissi and complicated her relations with the West.

Since the invasion of 2022 to Ukraine, NATO has grown: Both have joined Finland and Sweden formerly neutral to the coalition over the past two years.

How strong is the army in Russia?

Currently, Russia has at least 1.32 million Actual service soldiers, Hundreds of thousands of them fight in Ukraine. Moscow had previously focused on about 12,000 soldiers in Kalinigrad, which is in the far west of its pocket, confined to NATO members Poland and Lithuania. However, it was reported that most of these forces were re -published to Ukraine earlier in the conflict.

Russia also runs dozens of external military facilities, most of which are located in the previous Soviet states. As of 2024, this includes at least two main bases in Belarus, two in Kazakhstan, two in Armenia, two in the disputed Georgian territory in southern Ossetia and Abkhazia, and one base in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, the holidays in Treatsteria, according to Georgian. The largest of these facilities is the 201 military base in Duchanby, Tajikistan, which was in 2022 estimated at 7,000 Russian soldiers.

Regarding military assets, Russia has 4,292 aircraft, 5,750 tanks, 449 military vessels and one plane, according to the global fire force.

Although this capacity does not coincide with the strength of the common NATO, it will provide a tougher test if the United States is declining, as Trump requested.

“The Europeans need to wake up,” European Union Foreign Policy Head Kaja Calas said at a European Defense Agency conference on January 22. Weakness invites them. “