Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has hatched a plan to “provoke” NATO by launching attacks and possibly even an incursion against alliance member Poland.
The Telegraph writes that Washington has sent warnings to Warsaw over new intelligence suggesting the country’s critical infrastructure could become the target of missile and drone strikes by the Kremlin. Moscow might also order ground troops in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad into Poland from the north, the newspaper writes.
Officials close to Polish President Karol Nawrocki confirmed to Onet, a national news outlet and part of the same corporate network as The Telegraph, that his office had received those reports. They said that Washington “systematically informs Poland about ever-new Russian plans for a conventional attack on NATO’s eastern flank, from which Poland is by no means excluded.”
A fourth source with knowledge of security matters in Europe’s northeastern Baltic region told the newspaper that the plans were under active discussion in Moscow. The Kremlin could well attempt to pin responsibility for any attack on Ukraine after the fact, the source added.
The Telegraph writes that NATO may potentially respond to any Russian aggression by directly attacking Kaliningrad. It notes that the exclave has been “cited as a potential target” by German military officials.
It is unclear at this stage how far U.S. involvement in retaliatory measures would extend. NATO’s founding treaty binds all member states to mutual defense in the event that any one ally comes under attack.
Donald Trump, 80, has repeatedly signaled his contempt for the alliance throughout his second term and even threatened that the U.S. would not honor that agreement. He has dismissed NATO as a “paper tiger” while pressuring European members to lift defense spending toward 5 percent of GDP.
Trump further warned allies in March 2025 that Washington would walk away from those who underpaid, saying: “If you’re not going to pay, we’re not going to defend.” Relations have only curdled further after he launched his war with Iran this February.
The U.S. president has repeatedly lashed out at partners who refused to help out with that conflict and at German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, 70, in particular. Merz said that Tehran had “humiliated” Washington with its resilience to U.S. attacks, prompting the Pentagon to confirm in May that it would pull roughly 5,000 soldiers from Germany within a year.
Trump has vowed to further scale back U.S. presence in Europe in retaliation for what he views as a lack of support for his war in the Middle East. The Defense Department has also told NATO capitals to brace for weapons delays as it refills its own stockpiles, drained by the Iran campaign. The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Pentagon for further comment.
