Europe is preparing for a possible war against Russia, regardless of whether the United States is on their side or not.
As the Russia threat increases and U.S. support becomes uncertain, many European countries are telling citizens to prepare survival kits in case of a major crisis.
While members of the NATO alliance have guaranteed the U.S. support if they come under attack, U.S. President Donald Trump has made it clear that they can no longer take U.S. military support for granted.
As Trump becomes increasingly sympathetic towards Russia, the EU must wean itself off U.S. support.
Jakub Janda from the Centre for Security Policy in Prague told ABC that Europe's push to prepare was warranted.
"European countries are scared by the scope of Russian preparations for all-out continental war with Europe in upcoming years," he told the ABC.
"If there is a ceasefire in Ukraine, time will start running out as Russia will be preparing for its campaign against NATO on a full scale."
Europe has also stepped up its defence spending.
The NATO guideline for defence spending remained at 2% of GDP last year but Trump has urged NATO members to increase that to 5%. He claimed he would encourage Russia to attack any NATO countries that didn’t pay.
Poland is the closest to meeting the U.S. demands, increasing spending to 4.7% of the GDP.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were moving close to the 5% target.
Sweden and France are aiming to raise their spending to 3.5% of GDP while Finland is set to increase its spending to 3% by 2029.
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