“The value of this panel was in bringing together crisis researchers from the Baltic Sea region, allowing us to focus on some of the most important issues facing our region: societal resilience to Russian hybrid warfare, crisis preparedness, and, importantly, the climate crisis, including the need to ensure water security in our societies,” noted Nagel, who is also a Doctoral Researcher at Tallinn University of Technology, TalTech.

Her presentation examined how learning from Ukraine has influenced crisis preparedness efforts in Estonian and Swedish municipalities, based on the adoption and development of resilience hubs inspired by Ukraine’s Points of Invincibility. “Efforts to learn from Ukraine are visible in many Baltic Sea countries, both at the national and local levels. Yet this is not an easy task. While technical solutions, such as procuring generators for resilience hubs, are relatively straightforward, ensuring long-term staffing for these places and involving communities or the private sector remain difficult challenges to solve during the preparedness phase,” Nagel noted.

In discussions with the region’s crisis management and security scholars, the urgent need to raise preparedness levels in the Baltic Sea region was emphasised. At the same time, participants highlighted the importance of addressing both technical needs and the realities of limited human resources. In addition, the discussions underlined the need to plan and prepare by taking into account the resources available within communities. This also requires legal clarity: to what extent, and in what ways, can community members be effectively included in crisis preparedness and response activities?

Foto: Crisis Research Centre presentation in Tampere (KRUK, 2026).

We highlighted on ERR that the situation has improved following the adoption of legislation setting requirements for shelters and public sheltering spaces in new buildings. At the same time, Estonia’s existing sheltering infrastructure remains insufficient. The issue concerns not only Tallinn, but also other Estonian cities and regions, where people’s actual access to shelter may depend heavily on the type of building, the period in which it was built, and the local spatial context.

For example, there are areas in Tallinn where the standard designs of high-rise buildings do not include basement floors. In such buildings, it is not possible to create shelters in the usual way or to adapt existing basement spaces for this purpose. This means that, due to the building type alone, part of the population may be left without a realistic nearby sheltering option in a crisis situation.

Tallinn’s initiative to establish modular shelters is an important and necessary step. However, individual pilot solutions cannot replace the systematic and broader development of sheltering infrastructure. More public sheltering spaces are needed, and their development should not remain only a question for the capital. Similar solutions are also needed in other Estonian cities and densely populated areas.

Both Estonia and Ukraine are currently facing difficult circumstances. To protect the Estonian people, ongoing investments in crisis planning and civil protection capacities are critical. Only in this manner can we not only respond rapidly to crises but also prevent them and effectively manage their effects!

Happy 107th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia!

Photo: Estonian flag in the countryside (KRUK, 2025).

1. Mental Health First Aid During a Crisis (in Estonian, trainers from NGO Peaasjad clinical psychologists):

Remarks

Sources

PIMA (Points of Invincibility for Multi-level Adaptation) combines local experience from Estonia, Sweden, and Ukraine to build and run crisis support centres as effectively as feasible. In Ukraine, such centers are known as points of invincibility.

These centers provide people with basic services such as charging their electronics or accessing the internet if their home’s electricity fails. If the heat goes out, there’s somewhere to stay warm. It’s also a chance to meet other people and learn new skills, such as first aid.

In Sweden and Estonia, resilience shelters are also being developed for various crisis circumstances, and it is critical to recognize that such centers are required in specific crises. We are excited to collaborate on this new project with Malmö University and the Ukrainian NGO Poruch. The project is funded by the Swedish Institute.

You can read more about the ongoing Estonian-Ukrainian-Swedish cooperation project here.

Photo: meeting at the Estonian Embassy in Kyiv (Порyч, 2024).

In Ukraine, points of invincibility have been established as locations where citizens can obtain emergency aid in the event of a failure of critical utilities such as electricity, water, or heating. They are areas where people can recharge their phones, remain warm, and get important government information about what is going on. “The points of invincibility are also highlighted by Ukraine itself as an important element in the continuation of social resistance and resilience in a war that has lasted nearly three years,” said Hannes Nagel, Head of the NGO Crisis Research Centre. “Estonia and Sweden have begun to establish a network of such points of invincibility in order to improve civilian crisis preparedness. At the same time, there is a critical need for cross-border sharing of best practices in the field, as well as the preservation of the fundamental concepts of common points of invincibility.”

The PIMA project’s goal is to bring together specialists in charge of local level points of invincibility in Estonia, Sweden, and Ukraine in order to begin developing a network to achieve the above mentioned objectives. The Ukrainian partner NGO Poruch, which has been operating in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, plays a vital role in the project, both in community centers and among the civilian population as a whole. “In the project, we are developing a concept for points of invincibility that will assist local planners and policymakers in building on worldwide best practices when establishing centres. To gain insight into this, the project will also include research, in which we will map the current state of play at the local level using case studies from three countries, highlighting both successful solutions and areas of concern,” said Mariia Tyshchenko, Director of NGO Poruch.

“One of the project’s most significant outcomes is a concept paper on points of invincibility. This concept will serve as a policy brief, but more importantly, as a tool for municipalities to better understand both starting, equipping, and operating the points, based on best practices for engaging local communities and dealing with various aspects of vulnerability, such as people with special needs, children, or the elderly,” said Tom Nilsson, Associate Professor at the Department of Global Political Studies at Malmö university.

Malmö University will be the lead partner in the PIMA project, which will carry out majority of activities during the spring and summer of 2025. The project is funded by the Swedish Institute.

The visit to Kuku radio was motivated by an opinion piece published in ERR, in which Nagel described the concerns in the field of internal security and the dangers that may accompany cuts in the field. “Cutting internal security is a dangerous step in the current security situation. Like the Ministry of Defence, the sector should have remained untouched by the cuts, as internal security is one of the most important elements of comprehensive national defence,” Nagel said.

The radio programme also discussed learning from the Ukrainian experience. “In the area of civil protection, we have not learned much from the Ukrainian experience. I mentioned the fact that kindergartens and schools are being built in Estonia, for example state gymnasiums – new buildings, but no shelters. At the same time, Ukraine builds all new kindergartens and schools with shelters, without exception,” Nagel said.

Both the article and the radio visit can be summarised as follows: we continue to under-invest in internal security and civil defence, and it is the people who suffer the most in a serious crisis. However, if the rear is in difficulties, it poses a threat to the broader defence capabilities, thus strong internal security and population protection are an integral prerequisite for systemic national defence.

🎙️ Listen to the programme here (in Estonian), find the full article on the ERR portal.

Photo: Radio Kuku/Postimees, 2024.

The project will train the Kopli 93 community in mental and physical first aid, cyber security, and urban survival. “The community members will be trained by recognised experts, and there will be a special focus on mapping the community’s resources and preparedness,” said Hannes Nagel, head of the NGO Crisis Research Centre.

As a result of the project, the community will have a civil defence roadmap that includes a description of the current situation as well as recommendations for future capacity building. “Enhancing community crisis preparedness is the easiest way to move from the deeply rooted individualism in Estonia to collective crisis preparedness, at least at the community level, which will also support the municipality in crises as a new public good,” he said.

The Civil Society Foundation is supporting the Kopli 93 project on behalf of the Estonian Ministry of the Interior.

  A summary of news about the Kopli 93 project can be found HERE.              

Photo: mental first aid training (Crisis Research Centre, 2024).