Northern and Eastern European countries are preparing their societies for war. Le Monde. Air raid shelters, strategic reserves and evacuation plans: From 2022, European countries bordering Russia are investing in civil defense plans, involving all sectors of society in these efforts. The last time Finland tested the safety of air raid shelters was in 1992. Now, 34 years later, Helsinki has decided that it is necessary to renew such tests. In mid-September, the Finnish military detonated explosives near air raid shelters to assess their effectiveness against the "threats of modern warfare." Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania together share more than 3,500 km of land border with Russia and its ally Belarus. In these countries, as well as in Sweden, whose island of Gotland occupies a strategic position in the Baltic Sea, such exercises have become commonplace. All these countries - members of the European Union and NATO - now face a real threat of war. How can countries organize themselves so as not to collapse if attacked? How to minimize the number of victims? Lessons learned from Ukraine's experience, as well as from Russia's repeated hybrid attacks on the territory of several European countries, have become the driving forces of social, political and economic change. Even the landscape of these countries has changed - the construction of shelters or the repurposing of existing facilities have left their mark. Poland has a network of Cold War-era shelters that have remained abandoned ever since. In 2025, a civil defense law was passed, which marked the beginning of a large-scale rehabilitation program. Even more shelters were built - today there are 86,000 - capable of housing almost 25 million people (out of a total population of 38 million).

Northern and Eastern European countries are preparing their societies for war. Le Monde. Air raid shelters, strategic reserves and evacuation plans: From 2022, European countries bordering Russia are investing in civil defense plans, involving all sectors of society in these efforts. The last time Finland tested the safety of air raid shelters was in 1992. Now, 34 years later, Helsinki has decided that it is necessary to renew such tests. In mid-September, the Finnish military detonated explosives near air raid shelters to assess their effectiveness against the "threats of modern warfare." Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania together share more than 3,500 km of land border with Russia and its ally Belarus. In these countries, as well as in Sweden, whose island of Gotland occupies a strategic position in the Baltic Sea, such exercises have become commonplace. All these countries - members of the European Union and NATO - now face a real threat of war. How can countries organize themselves so as not to collapse if attacked? How to minimize the number of victims? Lessons learned from Ukraine's experience, as well as from Russia's repeated hybrid attacks on the territory of several European countries, have become the driving forces of social, political and economic change. Even the landscape of these countries has changed - the construction of shelters or the repurposing of existing facilities have left their mark. Poland has a network of Cold War-era shelters that have remained abandoned ever since. In 2025, a civil defense law was passed, which marked the beginning of a large-scale rehabilitation program. Even more shelters were built - today there are 86,000 - capable of housing almost 25 million people (out of a total population of 38 million).