Even before the invasion, NATO officials noted a rise in non-conventional warfare aimed at Ukraine and other Western targets. “Russia claims that NATO promised never to expand to the east after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (left) and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 20, 2023. Without engaging Russia, NATO has enabled Ukraine to try some of the things NATO would like to do but politically cannot do. But the alliance’s unity has been one of the least expected and most welcome aspects of the West’s response to the war in Ukraine.

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Persons: Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron, ”, hasn’t, ” David van Weel, ” van Weel, Anatolii Stepanov, van Weel, Keir Giles, ” Giles, Peter Caddick, Adams, Jens Stoltenberg, Volodymyr Zelensky, DIANA, Emmanuel Dunand, Giles, “, ” Caddick, Macron Organizations: CNN, NATO, Kremlin, Emerging, Mechanized Brigade, Getty, NATO’s Brussels, Chatham, Presidential Press Service, Reuters, NATO Innovation Fund, Limited Partners, GPS, France's, White House Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Soviet Union, Bakhmut, Donetsk, AFP, London, China, Kyiv, Sweden, Paris, Macron, Europe