Thread by @noclador

In February 2022 putin declared war on Europe & his army marched on Kyiv.
Since then European EU/NATO nations have added and/or are forming these active (!) battalions to their armies:
(Worst 2 countries are of course the two loudmouths)

🇵🇱 +44 (3 recon, 4 tank, 12 infantry
1/14

2 anti-tank, 6 artillery, 5 air defence, 4 engineer, 1 signal, 1 CBRN defence, 1 transport, 5 logistic)
🇸🇪 +22 (10 infantry, 3 artillery, 2 engineer, 1 signal, 1 EW, 1 intelligence, 1 transport, 3 logistic)
🇷🇴 +10 (2 infantry, 3 drone, 3 engineer, 1 signal, 1 logistic)
2/n

🇧🇪 +7 (1 recon, 1 drone, 1 cavalry, 1 artillery, 1 engineer, 1 logistic, 1 transport)
🇦🇱 +5 (4 infantry, 1 air defence)
🇩🇪 +4 (3 artillery, 1 air defence)
🇭🇺 +4 (1 cyber, 1 mechanized, 1 engineer, 1 logistic)
🇸🇰 +4 (1 paratrooper, 1 drone, 1 engineer, 1 signal)
3/n

🇸🇮 +4 (1 artillery, 1 air defence, 1 drone, 1 engineer, 1 intelligence, 1 CBRN defence; disanded 2 combat support)
🇪🇪 +3 (1 recon, 1 artillery, 1 coastal defence)
🇱🇹 +3 (1 artillery, 1 coastal defence, 1 logistic)
🇳🇱 +3 (1 tank, 1 artillery, 1 cyber)
4/n

🇧🇬 +2 (1 recon, 2 tank; disanded 1 CBRN defence)
🇨🇿 +2 (1 cyber, 1 Intelligence)
🇩🇰 +2 (1 mechanized, 1 air defence)
🇮🇹 +2 (1 drone, 1 cyber)
🇳🇴 +2 (1 infantry, 1 artillery)
🇭🇷 +1 (1 CSAR, 1 PSYOPS; disanded 1 armored)
🇱🇻 +1 (1 artillery)
🇦🇹 0
🇮🇪 0
🇵🇹 0
🇪🇸 0
5/n

🇫🇷 -1 (1 cyber; disanded 2 overseas infantry battalions)
🇬🇧 -8 (disbanded: 1 infantry, 1 helicopter, 1 medical, reduced to non-combat strength: 1 guards, 4 infantry,

(I did not find reliable and publicly available information for the following armies: Finland, Greece,
6/n

Macedonia, Montenegro, Turkey).

In total European nations added 125 battalions (or about a fifth of what Ukraine added). Poland and Sweden are by far the most serious nations, when it comes to rearmament.
In contrast the big European nations are useless...
7/n

together Germany, France, Italy and Spain added just 7 battalions (in 2025 France disbanded its last Africa-based battalions... so France could now add 1-2 battalions in France... if Macron wasn't just a talker).

Germany plans to grow its army... but so far its seems it
8/n

won't even match Sweden's military growth.
Some nations' armies were in such horrific shape that they have to add a ton of units now to get their existing brigades in combat readiness (Belgium), other nations were already maxed out before 2022 and can now only add a limited
9/n

number of new units (Estonia, Lithuania).
Lots of others are absolutely unserious when it comes to troop growth (e.g. Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, etc.)
As usual the UK stands apart... there the army is falling apart even faster than the navy. It just doesn't make the news,
10/n

as the ongoing hollowing out of units isn't as visible as rusty and broken down ships.
Artillery units, where just one battery has howitzers; infantry units, which consist only of a few dozen men, etc. etc.

Sweden and Poland (which is about to add another 80+ battalions)
11/n

are the only two countries in Europe that I consider to have fully woken up the threat russia poses (Finland, Estonia and Lithuania always were aware of the threat and never shrank their militaries; likewise Turkey and Greece never always reduced their militaries, as both
12/n

assume the other is about invade).

Every other government in Europe is just pretending to be serious about rearmament... but no one is as vile, as the British government, which is lying shamelessly about "war footing" and "rearmament", while the British military is barely
13/n

alive.
As always: more defence spending and obligatory military service are the cures for Europe's ills... but no European nation's political class (except Ukraine's) has the courage to be this honest with its people.
14/end