When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the response from the West was swift. The United States, NATO and the European Union (EU) rallied behind Kyiv with military, humanitarian and financial assistance. While European nations collectively shouldered the largest burden, the U.S. led the way with a total of $70 billion in direct military aid and nearly $200 billion in broader support.<\/p>\n
Today, that transatlantic landscape has shifted almost as dramatically as the battlefield dynamics themselves.<\/p>\n
As the U.S. has reduced its direct role, European institutions have been pressed to close the gap. At this summer\u2019s summit in Ankara, Turkey, NATO allies excluding the U.S. pledged 70 billion euros\u2014about $80 billion in U.S dollars\u2014in additional assistance for Ukraine, while the EU approved a 90 billion euro loan for Kyiv.<\/p>\n
Is the new approach working? Can Europe fill the void? And what does this realignment mean not just for Ukraine, but for the future of global security?<\/p>\n
Those were the questions 13 George Washington University students set out to answer in Confronting Putin: European Responses to Russia\u2019s War on Ukraine, a short-term study abroad course led by Andrew Hyde<\/a>, an adjunct professor in political science at the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences<\/a> (CCAS).<\/p>\n This summer, Hyde, who served 30 years as a U.S. diplomat and Foreign Service political officer, guided graduate and undergraduate students through an intensive week in Brussels for a firsthand look at international affairs in action. Their itinerary included visits to the NATO headquarters, the EU and the U.S. and Ukrainian missions to both NATO and the EU. They met with diplomats, military officials, policymakers, politicians, journalists and analysts to see how Europe is responding to its biggest security crisis since World War II.<\/p>\n The class visited NATO headquarters in Brussels, where member state flags adorn a plaza dubbed Place pour les drapeaux\u2014the Place for Flags.<\/p>\n Hyde, a Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center, designed the course to be \u201cpractical, hands-on, policy-oriented.\u201d He wanted students to look beyond the headlines and grasp how global decisions are made in real time. \u201cThey\u2019ve read about it in the news, but what does it actually feel like?\u201d he said. \u201cWhat\u2019s actually going on underneath the hood.\u201d<\/p>\n