ABSTRACT
Russia and the West have conflicting interests in Ukraine’s ‘shared neighbourhood’, and have adopted opposing strategies with respect to Ukraine. 1 While Ukraine has been an intense focus for NATO, revelations that US president Donald Trump withheld about $400 million in congressionally authorised security assistance for Ukraine and a head-of-state meeting at the White House to induce the Ukrainian government to advance his domestic political interests, prompting his impeachment, have distracted the Alliance from the ground-level exigencies of Ukrainian security. 2 One of these is the reform of its defence system. 3
