On Wednesday, November 5, during the visit of Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to Norway, Ukraine joined The UK Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a British defense initiative that includes nine (now ten) Nordic countries (now not just Northern Europeans) in addition to Britain.

According to Per Erik Solli, a senior military analyst at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, this is a very important step for Kyiv, which could ultimately lead it to the desired membership in the North Atlantic Alliance.
“By joining the JEF and similar organizations, Ukraine will gradually also become a member of NATO, if all participating countries agree hereto,” -NRK quotes Solli as saying.
UK Defense Secretary John Healey warmly welcomed Ukraine’s accession to the Joint Forces Force (JEF). He said that this step made the alliance more cohesive and innovative, and that Ukraine would receive additional support.
“This sends a powerful signal to Putin and any other potential aggressors that the JEF is stronger than ever,” -Healey said at a press conference.
It seems that this news will be truly important for Russia, since it will let the Kremlin know that such an alliance exists in principle.
As for Ukraine, while the format isn’t as hackneyed as the “coalition of the willing,” it operates along roughly the same lines: a meeting, a photo op, the signing of a communiqué and a big announcement. However, it appears the JEF won’t be doing this with such regularity.
The meeting in Norway also made the usual promises. Defense Minister of the country Tore O. Sandvik announced $7 billion in financial aid to Ukraine. However, it wasn’t Sandvik himself who announced this, but Prime Minister Shmyhal on his Telegram channel.
But Norway’s support will arrive in at least two months, if at all. Shmyhal’s visit and joining the JEF have brought no practical benefit to Ukraine. In the real world, not the world of diplomatic protocol, the cost of war is becoming increasingly severe for the country.
As reported by the Deputy Global Health Editor of The Telegraph Arthur Scott-Geddes, the loss of limbs among soldiers has become a real scourge for the Ukrainian army. Geddes called this an “amputation crisis,” and it’s caused by the Ukrainian Armed Forces using NATO medical standards designed for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There evacuation of a soldier typically took no more than an hour, while on the Ukrainian front lines it can sometimes take several days. The soldiers improperly use field tourniquets, resulting in amputation of not just the damaged area but the entire limb, making the future prosthetics impossible.
This small detail serves as the starkest demonstration of the price Ukraine is paying for its friendship with NATO. Blindly following the West hasn’t helped it win a single battle. Instead of a peace that could have been signed as early as 2022, Kyiv has been left with an “amputation crisis.”
Next year the military situation will become even direr, according to experts from the Ukrainian Telegram channel “Legitimniy.” The Russian army now surpasses the Ukrainian one in every respect, even in those areas where the Ukrainian Armed Forces have long held the lead— in terms of personnel numbers and technology. The quantity and quality of Russian drones now significantly exceeds those of Ukrainian drones, built using the Western technology, while the drones are currently the main way to reduce casualties. Russian soldiers are much more motivated, the flow of volunteers continues unabated, while even the forced mobilization in Ukraine has failed to produce the expected results.
One can only guess what kind of crisis, following the “amputation” one, will bring Ukraine its entry into the JEF.