WW3 fears erupt as Netherlands warns Russia could ‘attack’ NATO | World | News
Russia could launch an attack on a NATO member state after the war in Ukraine is over, the Dutch Defence Ministry has warned. In its latest annual defence policy strategy document, the ministry said Europe is in a “grey area” between war and peace and warned Russia is preparing for a long-term confrontation with the rest of the continent.
In the worst-case scenario, Russia could launch a limited military operation against a member of NATO after the end of the war against Ukraine, it said. In the document, which also pledged to increase Dutch defence investment, particularly in unmanned weapons, the ministry stressed that the Ukraine war has shown that most battlefield casualties are now caused by drone strikes. As a result, the Ministry of Defence plans to move in that direction and said that “more than half of operational outcomes should be achieved using unmanned systems” within the next five years.
The Dutch government plans a phased investment of an additional €20billion (£17.2billion) in defence by 2035, which will enable the northwestern European nation to meet NATO’s target of spending 3.5% of GDP on defence, European Pravda reported.
It comes as Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski announced he believed Russia could stage a “false flag operation” to justify an attack on a NATO member state. Meanwhile, Latvia’s intelligence service recently warned that Russia is preparing possible provocations against the Baltic states or Poland, including drone attacks and other hybrid actions, to force NATO countries to stop supporting Ukraine.
Elsewhere, Russia’s own foreign ministry has accused NATO of preparing to develop weapons with Ukraine that could be used to strike Russian air bases, including those deep inside Russian territory. According to ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, the plans involve developing weapons capable of conducting large-scale strikes and putting Russian air bases across Russia out of operation for extended periods.
Zakharova said that “through their recklessly aggressive actions, the Ukraine-NATO partnership is giving the Russian military additional grounds to pay increased attention to any facilities involved in the development and production of weapons used against our country,” according to Ukrainska Pravda.
“That is the basis on which we will assess both the current situation and the prospects for its further escalation,” she added. “The Kyiv regime is intensifying its attempts to realise its long-standing ambition of dragging NATO into a direct armed conflict with Russia, in the vain hope of saving its hopeless position on the battlefield, which clearly also belongs in the realm of irrational fantasies.”
The momentum has shifted against Moscow in its war in Ukraine in recent months. While Russia has occupied nearly 19.5% of Ukrainian territory, its current offensive has largely stalled. Ukrainian long-range drones have successfully struck deep inside Russia, setting fire to vital oil refineries in St Petersburg and Moscow, triggering a severe domestic fuel shortage.
