Kathrine Frich
Tusk fears Moscow will launch weapons into NATO territory and simply blame a technical failure.
When a major conflict rages next door, the imaginary lines drawn on a map offer little real protection.
Western nations have poured resources into a distant warzone for years.
Now, the violence threatens to follow those supply chains all the way home.
Plotting something bad
Poland recently locked down its airports and closed its airspace to keep citizens safe. The sudden move followed a stark warning from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
He told his parliament that Western intelligence agencies have uncovered alarming Russian plans. According to the Daily Express, Vladimir Putin is preparing to launch missile strikes directly at countries that support Ukraine.
The Daily Mail reported that the UK sits high on that list of potential targets. A direct hit on a British base would trigger a massive escalation across Europe, drawing the entire military alliance into the fight.
Testing the limits
Tusk explained that the intelligence reports are highly convincing. He warned lawmakers that Moscow is looking to push NATO boundaries over the coming months.
“We know he is plotting something bad. However, for us the most important task is to prepare for various scenarios,” Tusk stated, according to the Daily Express.
Tusk added: “We will certainly not naively accept such messages that Russia has goodwill and will start behaving properly. There is no indication of this.”
These warnings come just days after a terrifying close call. A jet powered Russian drone nearly hit a railway station right near the Polish border.
The next natural step
Tusk fears Moscow will launch weapons into NATO territory and simply blame a technical failure.
“There is a real risk that drones or other types of missiles could penetrate the territory of one or more countries on the eastern flank and even cause damage, while the official explanation will be that there was an accident,” Tusk warned.
Some leaders want to take action before those weapons cross the border. Former UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace called shooting down Russian drones over western Ukraine “the next natural step”, the Daily Express reported.
Meanwhile, NATO chief Mark Rutte stressed that military readiness requires serious funding. He stated that the UK needs a “credible path” to hit its defence spending targets with “yearly increments”.
Sources: Daily Express, Daily Mail
