Europe is facing a rare strategic opportunity: it is grappling with an economic crisis and has a ready-made solution at hand. On the one hand, it is directly exposed to the outcome of Russia’s war against Ukraine – a conflict that has already reshaped European security.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. On the other hand, it is grappling with slowing growth, industrial pressure, and now higher energy costs showing little sign of easing. It is over these that big businesses in Europe are ringing the alarm as they see imminent risks of mass unemployment and long-term competitiveness. The encouraging truth is that these two challenges are not mutually exclusive. They can be solved in tandem and addressing one can help resolve the other. If only European leaders would wake up – and now! Unfortunately, so far, as a European chief executive told the Financial Times: “There is no sense of urgency in pursuing deregulation even as rising gas prices in Europe dent the bloc’s competitiveness compared to the US.” And, according to the European Commission, up to 1.3 million jobs in the EU could be lost as a result of the higher energy prices. Ukraine is on a roll and that momentum needs to be strengthened to turn it into a lasting advantage. Ukraine is currently demonstrating something that would have seemed improbable just a couple years ago: a fast-evolving model of modern warfare driven by scale, innovation and rapid adaptation. Its long-range drone campaigns are reshaping the battlefield.