Russian troops claimed to capture a stronghold in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region on Monday after a months long battle. Ukrainian scholar Tetiana Hranchak, visiting assistant teaching professor in the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs, says Vladimir Putin will continue to ramp up fighting in Ukraine and elsewhere.

“If we will be able to predict that we will have new levels of escalation, western countries have to react,” Hranchak says. “They should be prepared for this. Or maybe not just react on some new levels of escalation, but do something.”

Hranchak says Ukraine is seeking more than selective condemnations for Putin’s actions—and one idea involves admitting Ukraine to NATO.

“Ukraine joining NATO will mean the readiness of the western countries to defend their own sovereignty and remain subjects of international relations, and such determination in itself is a deterrent,” she says.

Read more in the WAER article, “SU Ukrainian scholar says political rather than military action may deter Putin.”