Ukraine’s experience since February 2022 has produced a global reassessment of what civil defense means in a modern conflict involving a large, technologically capable adversary striking civilian infrastructure. The Ukrainian example is relevant to Taiwan not because the two situations are identical — they are quite different in geography, military balance, and the specific threats each faces — but because Ukraine demonstrated that societal resilience, the willingness and capacity of a civilian population to sustain normal life and maintain government function under sustained attack, is a military asset of the first order. Taiwan’s civil defense posture, measured against the Ukrainian example, has been improving from a low base and remains inadequate for the scenario its military is preparing to fight.