Ursula von der Leyen wants to make Ukraine so strong that it is indigestible for potential invaders: „We call this the strategy of the steel porcupine,“ said the Commission President. Other European leaders are now also using the image when talking about security guarantees after a possible ceasefire or peace agreement. Ukraine is to be so heavily armed that Vladimir Putin will not even think of invading the country again. Borrowing from the animal kingdom can be delicate, as we all know. „We’ll take Switzerland, this porcupine, on the way back,“ intoned the Nazis during the Second World War. So the rodent has been used before.