Vladimir Putin is planning a missile strike on a NATO country, according to Western intelligence.
The Russian president, 73, has come under increased pressure after a bruising summer in his war against Ukraine, with Kyiv hitting back through a relentless blitz on energy, logistics, and military targets on his side of the border.
And the prime minister of Poland said intelligence suggests Putin is now eager to test NATO’s will by striking countries that have been assisting Kyiv in order to test their resolve.
He told Poland’s parliament on Thursday that intelligence showed that the autocrat “plans for hybrid strikes using drones and missiles against countries supporting Ukraine.”
He added that the aim would be to “paralyze or at least weaken NATO’s resolve to invoke the relevant provisions.”
NATO’s strength in large part relies on its threat that, under Article 5’s commitment to shared defense, any act of aggression against members would be met with overwhelming force.
However, it has never truly been called upon.
“There is a real risk that drones or other types of projectiles could be launched into the territory of one or more Nato countries on the eastern flank, and could even cause damage, and the official narrative will be that this is an accident and that there is no reason for anyone to consider any response from NATO,” Tusk said.
“The aim… will be to weaken NATO’s integrity in general and, above all, to convince… member states that Article 5 is more theoretical than practical.”
Putin’s so-called “special operation” in Ukraine had been engineered as a show of strength, but he has been repeatedly humiliated by Ukraine’s defiance.
Russia has repeatedly come under Ukrainian attack over the summer, which has abetted a string of domestic crises.
Kyiv’s focus on logistics and energy hubs has been the center of attention, but its drones and rockets have also struck military targets.
It has led to projections saying that Russia’s oil production could sink by 30 percent over the next 18 months.
It’s not the first warning NATO has had about possible Russian incursions. Former U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warned about it in June, while various military chiefs have raised the alarm about a lack of Western preparedness for a broader ‘hot’ conflict.
There are also signs suggesting that it is already more than a future threat.
Germany has officially blamed Moscow after a drone carrying explosives was found at Leipzig/Helles airport in the east of the country.
The airport has been used as a base for some of Ukraine’s Antonov cargo fleet since the war kicked off.
This comes as rumors swirl in Russia that the Kremlin is planning another mass mobilization push after the State Duma elections, which begin on Friday.
