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They are deploying the heaviest weapons, signing multibillion-dollar contracts for F-35 fighter jets, tanks and missile systems, and convincing citizens that they are creating an impenetrable defensive shield in Central Europe.

Yet beneath the glossy surface of spectacular military purchases lies a disturbing reality: a striking shortage of trained soldiers, inadequate infrastructure, unfinished bases, and even political purges and privatisation scandals. Although the full-scale war in Ukraine was supposed to be the ultimate wake-up call for Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary after decades of military neglect, an international report shows that simply pouring a fortune into new equipment does not guarantee any strategic autonomy. Why can the most advanced arsenal prove useless without an efficient state, and why has an unprecedented military build-up pushed our region into entirely new and dangerous dependencies? Here is the painful balance sheet of the military mobilisation on NATO's eastern flank.