This article is a few days old, but I think it’s still interesting. The Polish Deputy Minister for Defence said this:
Today I wouldn’t even set a deadline anymore. Even some large-scale provocation by the Kremlin could quite plausibly happen within a matter of months.
Will Russia attack or sabotage NATO more than it is already doing? I hope not, but there have been indications in the news recently that such things could happen soon.
I found this article after googling, because this guy’s comments were referred to in another article today about the Russian government’s anger towards the UK.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces was small prior to 2014 but they grew it substantially after Russia snapped up Crimea and sent the little green men to fight them in the east which is part of why they were much more prepared for the renewed invasion efforts than they had been eight years prior. This is not to say that Russia stands a chance against NATO but it is to say that Ukraine presently has a very large and powerful army even compared to leading European powers at this point. Zelensky said France presently has about 200k men in the military while Ukraine had at that time some 980k men in the military, and Ukraine are spending many tens of billions of dollars on the military also.
Of course, it is a wartime economy. Same would happen to every pin Europe should shit hit the fan.
Given enough time to shift production over and train up people, certainly.