“This should be a beacon for all Ukrainian citizens”
5- 22.08.2025, 12:27
- 3,536
Luke Coffey on Ukraine’s strategy after a potential peace.
A possible peace agreement with Russia brings not only hope for Ukraine but also serious risks. What is the greatest of these risks?
Charter97.org asked Luke Coffey, a security expert at the respected Hudson Institute and former advisor to the UK Ministry of Defence, to answer this question:
— That Europe and America will lose interest. That it will become one of these so-called frozen conflicts that nobody keeps an eye on. Meanwhile, Russia will be rearming, re-equipping, reconstituting its force and just waiting for the right moment to try to finish the job. There is no reason to assume that Russia won't do this. Everything in Russia's history tells us it will try again.
— What are the strategies and practical approaches from the Ukrainian side to prevent this from happening?
— Keep investing in their military technology and defense industrial base. We shouldn't forget that before 2014, Ukraine was already in the top 10 of global defense exporters. It has a very young, talented, driven, intelligent, imaginative population. It should leverage and it needs to maintain a very large military. Part of any peace process is that there should be no restrictions on the size of Ukraine's armed forces. Then, it needs to make sure it constructs adequate fortifications, defensive lines. Then, perhaps, one point that doesn't get as much attention as it should, it should aggressively pursue its Euro-Atlantic integration. It should be a beacon for all those Ukrainian citizens who are living under Russian occupation to think: "Wow, there's a better alternative. Do I want to be part of Russian occupied Luhansk or do I want to be part of a thriving, economically prosperous European integrated Ukraine?" Then, over time that appeal, I think, will be effective in Ukraine, restoring its full territorial integrity.
— Do you see possibilities for American defensive industrial companies to be present in Ukraine?
— Yes, absolutely — and German, British, French, Italian, Turkish (Turks are already there). It makes sense from a NATO point of view and it makes sense from a Ukrainian point of view. I think, the more industrial cooperation we have, the safer everyone will be.
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