Introduction

Some of the most consequential NATO member states (MSs) which have played a major role in providing financial, military, and humanitarian aid to Kyiv since the beginning of the Ukrainian war, are now reassessing their position in this conflict. Having been the leading forces in sustaining the Ukrainian military effort against the Russian military, they are now displaying a decreasing tendency to continue on the path followed until now. The reasons for this changed approach are multiple but essentially boil down to the fact that Ukraine has proved so far unable to achieve significant strategic results in its four-month long Western-financed counteroffensive. Consequently, on top of the financial cost that supporting the war implies, the progressive depletion of Western strategic stockpiles (Lendon & Gigova, 2023), and the disruptive global economic effects caused by the conflict, it is now becoming increasingly clear that providing to Ukraine additional war supplies will unlikely end the conflict anytime soon. With elections approaching in several Western countries and decreasing popular consensus for further military aid, therefore, a slow but steady change of the Western position toward the Ukrainian crisis is already underway and can be expected to continue in the future.