On Europe's new frontlines, red tape, politics and potholes hamper defence

FILE PHOTO: Soldiers participate in the exercise mission FALCON AUTUMN of 11 Airmobile Brigade and the Defense Helicopter Command in Drachten, Netherlands November 11, 2022. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

(Reuters) - Europe is waking up to a new need to defend itself since Russia invaded Ukraine.

As children in Lithuania headed back to class this autumn, some of their schools were marked with new stickers: Hundreds have been designated as bomb shelters. In Finland, defence forces have been assembling modular military fortifications and practising landing jets on the highways.