They're only struggling because the West is arming Ukraine. The Ukrainians fought hard from day one, but they'd have been overrun and at best operating a guerilla campaign without being given heaps of equipment. Look what has happened while America stopped sending stuff over, and's while Europe was still sending stuff. Europe's arms industry is substantial, pretty much on par with the US in terms of value exported, but it's lacking things like the ability to supply an artillery war like the one going on in Ukraine. Since the US doesn't seem to be very reliable, Europe is gonna have to cover that base itself if it wants to be able to deter actions like Russia's invasion of Ukraine.