Donald Tusk Warns Of Putins Missile Strike Threats

Vladimir Putin is planning to launch strikes on countries that support Ukraine in its war against Russia, it has been claimed.

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said the Russian president wants to test Nato’s resolve as the conflict continues.

The war began more than four-and-a-half years ago after Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine, and the prospect of it ending is as remote as ever.

Addressing the Polish parliament on Thursday, Tusk said that intelligence assessment showed that Putin “plans for hybrid strikes using drones and missiles against countries supporting Ukraine”.

He said Russia’s aim is to “paralyse or at least weaken Nato’s resolve to invoke the relevant provisions”.

That is a reference to Article 5 of the Nato treat, which states that member states must retaliate if one of them is attacked.

Tusk said: “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.

“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.”

Former prime minister Keir Starmer warned in June that according to western intelligence, Russia could attack a Nato member by the end of the decade.

When asked by a journalist last month if military industrial facilities in the UK could become Russian targets – as Putin’s ally Andrei Fedorov has claimed – Putin said: “That is classified. A military secret.”

Earlier this month, Germany confirmed that Russia was responsible for a drone attack at Leipzig airport in a worrying sign that Putin’s war in Ukraine was reaching into other countries.

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