How NATO is bracing for a potential large-scale conflict with Russia
Europe's efforts to make ready its armed forces in anticipation of a major conflict with Moscow have broken new ground as the Russia-Ukraine war entered a new phase yesterday following a historic operation by Kyiv's security service. Ukraine on Sunday pulled off an unprecedented attack in which swarms of kamikaze drones emerged from strategically placed trucks to demolish dozens of military aircraft at four separate airbases across the Russian Federation.
The breathtaking offensive, codenamed 'Operation Spiderweb' by Ukraine's SBU security service and personally overseen by President Volodymyr Zelensky - was so devastating that Russian military bloggers termed the operation 'Russia's Pearl Harbor'. Now, as a furious Vladimir Putin plots his response, European leaders and defence chiefs are working to ensure their militaries can meet any threat from Moscow head-on.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer today vowed to make the UK 'battle-ready' while committing to building 12 new nuclear-powered submarines and at least six new munitions factories as part of the government's Strategic Defence Review. Elsewhere, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz last week declared that Berlin will finance the production of long-range missiles in Ukraine, shortly after pushing a €500 billion defence and infrastructure spending bill through parliament.
But nowhere is this drive for remilitarisation more apparent than Sweden's island of Gotland - a 1,000-square-mile tourist hotspot in the Baltic Sea undergoing a rapid transformation into a floating fortress and a key NATO military outpost. On a visit to Gotland late last month, Sweden's Chief of Defence Staff and Vice Supreme Commander Carl-Johan Edström told MailOnline about his vision for Gotland as a future NATO hub and first line of defence against Russian aggression.
He also warned that the transatlantic security alliance 'cannot take its eyes off Russia for the next 15 years' and said that Gotland must be ready to 'take a hit' from Moscow's forces and keep fighting. The importance of Gotland's position is hard to overstate. It sits just 120 miles from the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - all NATO members - and only 230 miles from Russia's heavily militarised Kaliningrad exclave.
With Sweden now part of the transatlantic security alliance, Gotland offers allied nations an ideal base from which to surveil and deter Russian air and naval threats over the Baltic Sea, and - in wartime - provide air cover for NATO troops engaged in Europe while striking Russian-held positions. But after a near-total demilitarisation of the island prior to the Russia-Ukraine war, Sweden's military is in a race against time to reconstitute the island's fighting force and build the infrastructure required to support a major conflict.
'Gotland is such an important island and territory for the defence and deterrence of the whole area of responsibility for NATO,' Lieutenant General Edström told MailOnline. 'I see one big role as being the hub for NATO logistics from the West to the East. The second role is to be a platform where you can project power to actually control the sea-level communications and also the airspace over the Baltic Sea to create our own A2/AD (anti-access and area denial) bubble. And the third one, (Gotland) would be a perfect place also to build up offensive capabilities needed for deep strike, for example, to defend NATO allies (from a Russian attack)'.
Gotland's strategic value as both a logistics hub and a launchpad for strikes against Russian military assets in the event of an attack on Europe is not lost on other Western defence chiefs. German General Carsten Breuer said a huge increase in production by Russia's military industrial base indicated that Moscow is preparing its stockpiles of weaponry and ammunition for a future clash with NATO, adding that Baltic states were at a particularly high risk of being attacked.
'The Baltic States are really exposed to the Russians, right? And once you are there, you really feel this... in the talks we are having over there,' he told the BBC. He recounted that Estonian defence officials had used the analogy of being close to a wildfire where they 'feel the heat, see the flames and smell the smoke', but in Western Europe 'you probably see a little bit of smoke over the horizon and not more'. Last week, David Petraeus, a respected former US general and CIA chief, said Russia could launch an incursion into the Baltic state of Lithuania to test Western resolve, or as a precursor to a wider offensive.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
22 minutes ago
- The Independent
Kemi Badenoch admits she is still learning how to lead the Tories: ‘It takes a while'
Kemi Badenoch has admitted she is still learning how to lead the Conservatives after seven months in job, amid dire poll ratings for the party. The Tory leader on Friday said 'it takes quite a while to learn how to do the job ' and that 'every week it gets better and better'. It came a day after her shadow chancellor promised she 'will get better', with the Conservatives tumbling in the polls and falling to fourth in a Scottish by-election on Thursday. 'She will get better through time at the media, she will get better through time at the dispatch box at PMQs,' Mel Stride said. Asked about his comments on Friday, Ms Badenoch said: 'People often assume that the minute you come into a job like being leader of the opposition, that you are ready to go. 'It actually takes quite a while to learn how to do the job, and what I have been saying is that every week it gets better and better. 'Every week I have more experience, and this is what every leader of the opposition has found from Margaret Thatcher to David Cameron.' She added that lots will change before the next general election, highlighting the outbreak of Covid and the war in Ukraine in the last election cycle. And Ms Badenoch said: 'There is going to be so much more that people are going to see, not just from me, but from the Conservative Party. 'We were down at the last election, but we are not out.' It came as the Tory leader shifted her party decisively in favour of pulling Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), a stance her leadership rival Robert Jenrick has long called for the Conservatives to adopt. Ms Badenoch said the convention has become a "sword" to "attack democratic decisions", resulting in Britain being unable to police its borders and deport foreign criminals. 'This use of litigation as a political weapon is what I am calling lawfare. It isn't just damaging our security, it's also damaging our prosperity,' she said. She stopped short of vowing to adopt leaving the ECHR as policy, but said 'I do believe that we will likely need to leave'. And she said she had tasked a team of legal experts to look at how Britain could pull out of the convention and what the impact would be, promising to announce the results at the party's conference in October. Ms Badenoch all but guaranteed a set-piece moment at the Manchester meet in which she will formally call for Britain to ditch the ECHR. Delivering her speech in Westminster, Ms Badenoch also sought to stress that the Conservatives are still the main opposition to Labour, despite the party's dire performance in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election. The Tories won just 6 per cent of the vote, with Labour fending off Reform UK and the SNP to win the seat. Answering questions after a speech on Friday, Mrs Badenoch dismissed Reform as a "protest party" and said claims it was the real opposition were "nonsense". Describing Reform as "another left-wing party", she said: "What they're trying to do is talk this situation into existence. "Labour is going to be facing the Conservative Party at the next election and we're going to get them out."
Telegraph
27 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Farage winning over Gen Z women
Nigel Farage is winning over Gen Z women, a new poll has found. Figures show that the Reform UK leader's popularity has surged after the announcement of proposed policies that could benefit young women. Mr Farage's share of support from women aged 18 to 26 nearly doubled, from 12 per cent to 21 per cent in May. It followed his pledge to scrap the two-child benefit cap and introduce a tax break for married couples. Right-wing parties have traditionally struggled to attract young female voters – but the latest poll, shared with Politico by the More in Common think tank, suggested that Reform could buck that trend. Mr Farage's growing influence has also been credited to a social media presence that boasts more than one million followers and 21 million likes on TikTok. Some of Reform's newest female recruits are believed to have defected from the Conservatives, like several of the party's highest-profile members.
The Guardian
30 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Men appear in court over fires at properties linked to Keir Starmer
Two men charged with arson over fires at homes and a car linked to Keir Starmer made their first appearance at a crown court on Friday. The Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, 21 and the Ukrainian-born Romanian national Stanislav Carpiuc, 26, appeared at the Old Bailey in London via video link from Belmarsh prison. Petro Pochynok, 34, a Ukrainian national, refused to leave his cell and did not appear in court. Lavrynovych has been charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life, while Pochynok and Carpiuc are accused of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life. Last month, a spate of fires occurred across north London at properties and a car linked to the prime minister. One took place at the Starmer's family home in north-west London, which he lets to his sister-in-law. A car that Starmer sold to a neighbour last year was set alight four days earlier on the same street. On 11 May, firefighters dealt with a small fire at the front door of a house where the Labour leader is understood to have lived in the 1990s before it was converted into flats. Lavrynovych, speaking via a Ukrainian interpreter, confirmed his name and date of birth to the court. Carpiuc also confirmed his name and date of birth. Lavrynovych said the court was 'very, very hushed' after he was asked by his interpreter whether he could hear the room well. His barrister also mentioned concerns around his health: 'I've already spoken to his mother to see if we could get his health records as well. He has heart issues [that] need to be looked into immediately.' Pochynok's barrister said he last saw the defendant a week ago and had 'no explanation as to why he has refused to leave his cell'. Carpiuc was arrested last month at Luton airport. At a previous hearing, the court heard he had lived in the UK for nine years and had recently finished a two-year business studies degree at Canterbury Christ Church University. He was working in construction and living in east London at the time of his arrest. Lavrynovych was the first person to be arrested and charged. The BBC reported that he worked as a builder and roofer. All three defendants were remanded in custody to next appear for a plea and trial preparation hearing at the same court on 17 October. A fourth person, a 48-year-old man, was arrested by police at Stansted airport on Monday on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life in connection with the incidents. The Metropolitan police said he had been released on bail until next month. A provisional trial date was set for 27 April next year.
