US general threatens ‘faster than ever' attack on crucial Russian enclave – as Putin's henchmen warn of ‘unleashing WW3'
General Christopher Donahue, commander of the United States Army Europe and Africa, said Nato could capture Kaliningrad - Moscow's strategic military in the heart of Europe.
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Russia has been bombing Ukraine in nightime attacks
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General Christopher Donahue, commander of the United States Army Europe and Africa
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Fires broke out in at least 13 locations across five districts in Kyiv after a Russian attack
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Soldiers of Ukraine's 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade fire a Grad multiple rocket launcher towards Russian positions at the frontline in Donetsk region
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Wedged between Poland and Lithuania, the region of Kaliningrad is heavily militarised.
It is cut off from the rest of Putin's empire, but could be used by the tyrant to launch an attack on Europe.
Using the strategic enclave, the Russians could also take over the Suwalki Gap - a hard-to-defend strip of land less than 60 miles wide that links the rest of the Nato countries to the Baltic nations.
Speaking to Defense News, the American general said that Nato has developed a plan to capture the location in case of a full-scale conflict with Russia.
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He said: "You can now take [Kaliningrad] down from the ground in a timeframe that is unheard of and faster than we've ever been able to do.
"We've already planned that and we've already developed it.
"The mass and momentum problem that Russia poses to us… we've developed the capability to make sure that we can stop that mass and momentum problem."
The Kremlin has ramped up its nuclear rhetoric after the threats - with Putin's henchmen accusing the US of "unleashing World War Three".
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The tirade from Moscow comes as the Kremlin pushes on with its war against Ukraine - launching nightly bombing raids to wreak havoc.
Meanwhile, Trump agreed to sell defence systems to Ukraine and slap brutal 100 per cent tariffs on Russia if Moscow does not reach a peace agreement with Ukraine within 50 days.
Putin defies Trump's ultimatum and BOMBARDS Ukraine – as Kremlin mouthpiece warns Russia will 'turn Kyiv into Hiroshima'
Leonid Slutsky, the hardline chairman of the Russian Parliamentary Committee on International Affairs, warned: 'An attack on the Kaliningrad region will mean an attack on Russia, with all due retaliatory measures - stipulated, among other things, by its nuclear doctrine.'
He accused the US general of voicing 'a plan to unleash World War Three with a subsequent global standoff [and] no winners'.
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Slutsky said: 'The US general should take this into account before making such statements.'
Politician Sergei Muratov from the Russian parliamentary committee on defence and security said: 'Kaliningrad is Russian territory, and such threats are essentially a declaration of war."
He claimed Russia was acting 'humanely' in Ukraine - but a full-scale war with NATO would be a 'different conversation'.
Kaliningrad MP Andrei Kolesnik added Nato 'don't have the guts' to take on Russia.
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Military expert Ivan Konovalov said: 'This is still a Russian region that has strategic importance, and it is very well protected.
'Any attempt to act provocatively against the Kaliningrad region will provoke retaliatory actions by all armed forces of the Russian Federation.'
What is the Suwalki Gap?
THE 60-mile strip Suwalki Gap is wedged between Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
It has massive strategic importance for NATO and the EU - as well as Russia - if conflict were to erupt.
For the West, it is the only land link to the three ex-Soviet Baltic republics - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - which are seen as vulnerable to Putin if the current east-west tension worsens.
For Russia, control of the corridor would give a land link to Kaliningrad, the main base of Putin's Baltic Fleet.
The Suwalki Gap, spanning the Polish-Lithuanian border, has seen an influx of troops as NATO nations strengthen their borders for fear of provocation from Russian-linked Belarus.
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Donald Trump speaks with the media at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland
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Trump said he was 'very disappointed' with Vladimir Putin
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The US slammed Russia's nuclear rhetoric.
American state department spokeswoman said: "Regarding any kind of nuclear commentary or preemptive strikes, etc, let's just say that rhetoric does not improve regional security.'
She warned that 'as President Trump has said, the word nuclear should not be treated casually, and we have seen these kinds of reckless and unhelpful statements before'.
The US remained committed to ending the war in Ukraine 'peacefully, hopefully through diplomacy'.
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It comes after ex-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said that WW3 has already begun and that his boss Putin should bomb the West.
Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, raged that Nato and the West are effectively already at war with Russia as he pushed the Kremlin's view that his country is the victim.
That's despite it being Russia who invaded Ukraine and is continuing to wage a bloody war.
Medvedev accused the US and Europe of an attempt to 'destroy' Russia which is 'hated by the West', he claimed.
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Diplomats say his remarks give an indication of the thinking among some within the Moscow political elite.
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