The war in Ukraine is not just about tanks, missiles and territory. It is about identity, belonging and the future of Europe. Ukraine is fighting not just for its own freedom, but for the principle that borders cannot be redrawn by force, and that a state cannot be wiped out because a larger neighbour believes it has no right to exist.
But Ukraine faces several parallel challenges – some visible, some less visible, but at least as dangerous.
A population with a complex composition
One of the most sensitive but real security problems facing Ukraine is the composition of its population. Ukraine is not only made up of Ukrainians who strongly identify with the Ukrainian nation. The country also has:
- a significant group of "russian" in Ukraine
- groups with pro-Russian sympathies
- and not least: forcibly displaced Russians who were settled in Ukraine through Soviet policies, often with privileges on the labor market, in the state apparatus, and in industry.
These people were not asked if they wanted to live in Ukraine, and Ukrainians were not asked if they wanted them to settle there. But they were gradually made citizens, in many cases with stronger loyalty to Moscow than to Kyiv.
For today’s Ukraine, this creates a challenge: not all Ukrainians want a free Ukraine.
A security problem – not an ethnic issue
This is not about language. Not about culture. Not about ethnicity.
It is about loyalty.
Many Russian-speaking Ukrainians are heroically defending their country on the front lines. At the same time, there are groups – often influenced by Russian propaganda, historical privilege or personal identity – that actively or passively contribute to destabilization. These can be:
- local informants
- digital influencers
- people recruited by Russian intelligence
- or sympathizers who act as “ordinary citizens” while working for the occupation agenda.
The recent sabotage incident in Poland illustrates this. Initially, there was speculation of a Ukrainian background, but Polish authorities determined that everything indicated that Russian intelligence services were behind the act, probably via local contacts.
Polish Security Service spokesperson Jacek Dobrzynski stated:
“Everything indicates that this – which we can already safely call a terrorist attack – was initiated by services from the East. Russian services want to scare and divide us.”
Hybrid warfare is as much social engineering as it is military strategy.
Identity as a Battlefield
In occupied territories, Russia has shown what kind of future it wants to force on Ukraine:
- Ukrainian language removed from schools
- Symbols burned and replaced
- Media politically controlled
- Children deported and rewritten in Russian culture
This reveals the ambition: to destroy Ukraine as an idea.
Therefore, Nobel Prize winner Oleksandra Matviichuk has said the words that perhaps best describe Ukraine's situation:
"We have no alternative."
Stopping the fight now does not mean peace - it means annihilation.
The dangerous fatigue
Europe finds itself in a situation where support for Ukraine is not just about morale, but security. As Karsten Friis recently wrote: Europe cannot allow aggressive imperialism to become normalized. If Russia succeeds, other authoritarian states will learn one thing:
That military power pays off when democracies tire.
The way forward
Ukraine must therefore deal with two battles at once:
- The military battle at the front.
- The internal battle against infiltration, propaganda, and hidden networks of loyalties that lie not with the state, but with the aggressor.
This is demanding, but necessary. And it must be done without collective condemnation – but with a clear understanding of the risks.
Conclusion
Ukraine is not only facing an invading army, but also people in the country who were never meant to be Ukrainians, and who still look to Moscow. This makes the fight for freedom even more difficult, but also all the more important.
For the future of Ukraine – and of Europe – depends on its success.
Ukraine must win. Not because they want war, but because the alternative is to lose everything.
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