Europe’s next war: The rising risk of NATO-Russia conflict

For the last four years, policymakers in Washington and European capitals have been consumed by a single question: how to respond to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Their focus is understandable. Russia’s attack on its neighbor is the greatest threat to European security since U.S. and Soviet tanks stood off in Berlin over 60 years earlier. As a result, NATO allies have sent Ukraine hundreds of billions of dollars in military, economic, and humanitarian assistance to prevent it from losing the war and collapsing. The Europeans have received waves of refugees and, together with the Americans, enacted tough sanctions against Russia. Facing pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, leaders across the alliance have held a series of summits to try to end the fighting.