Vladimir Putin's tanks could roll into European Nato country tomorrow, warns German general

At a glance

• Vladimir Putin could send tanks into a European Nato country tomorrow, a German general is warning

• The Russian president could launch a ‘limited attack’ on Nato territory, says Lieutenant General Alexander Sollfrank

• Britain has deployed aircraft to eastern Europe including to take part in patrols over Poland

Vladimir Putin could order tanks to roll into a European Nato country tomorrow, a German general is warning.

Lieutenant General Alexander Sollfrank stressed that Russia could now launch a limited incursion against Nato territory.

“Russia has enough main battle tanks to make a limited attack conceivable as early as tomorrow,” he said, in a warning which will strike home in countries close to Russia including the Baltic States and Poland.

Speaking at his headquarters in north Berlin, Lt Gen Sollfrank explained further: “If you look at Russia’s current capabilities and combat power, Russia could kick off a small-scale attack against NATO territory as early as tomorrow.

“Small, quick, regionally limited, nothing big - Russia is too tied down in Ukraine for that.”

Lieutenant General Alexander Sollfrank

Nato

The general, who heads Germany’s joint operations command, also echoed Nato warnings that Russia could potentially mount a large-scale assault on the 32-member alliance as early as 2029 if its armament efforts persist.

Germany’s Chief of Defence Carsten Breuer told a meeting of his country’s military top brass that Putin must not be allowed to believe that Russia can win a war against Nato or one of its members.

As Putin’s war in Ukraine rages on, he said: “We must prevent Russia from another miscalculation like this.

“Russia must never come to the assumption that it can win a war against Nato or a single Nato country.

“We need to look into the lessons learned from the war in Ukraine, adapt them for ourselves and develop our own concepts and structures accordingly because the war in Ukraine is our teacher,” he explained, adding that Moscow expected a quick win when it invaded its neighbour in 2022.

Vladimir Putin being briefed on a test of Russia’s nuclear-powered Burevestnik missile

Kremlin

Instead, Putin’s army was forced to retreat from near Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and has got bogged down in fierce battles in the east of the country, suffering heavy losses while gradually claiming more land.

As tensions rise with the West, the Russian president has ordered plans for Russia to restart nuclear tests after Donald Trump told his military chiefs to carry out new weapon trials.

Lt Gen Sollfrank, who previously ran Nato’s logistics command, said that despite setbacks in Ukraine, Russia’s air force retains substantial combat strength, and its nuclear and missile forces remain unaffected.

While the Black Sea Fleet has suffered significant losses, other Russian fleets have not been reduced, he added.

“The ground forces are suffering losses, but Russia says it aims to boost its total troop numbers to 1.5 million soldiers.”

Recent drone incursions into Polish airspace have stoked Western fears of Russian escalation.

The general emphasised that Moscow’s hybrid warfare tactics, including drone incursions, should be viewed as interconnected elements of a strategy that also included the war on Ukraine.

“The Russians call this non-linear warfare. In their doctrine, this is warfare before resorting to conventional weapons. And they threaten to use nuclear weapons, which is warfare by intimidation,” he said.

Russia’s aim, he added, was to both provoke Nato and to gauge its response, in order to “foster insecurity, spread fear, to do damage, to spy and to test” the alliance’s resilience.

Germany plans to expand its armed forces by 60,000 troops, bringing its total military personnel to around 260,000.

British jets will ‘confront’ Russian aircraft violating Nato airspace, the Foreign Secretary has told the UN

PA Wire

Britain is putting its armed forces on “readiness” for war given the threat posed by Putin and has deployed aircraft to eastern Europe including to carry out patrols over Poland.

Poland will roll out a new military training programme for its citizens as part of a broader plan to train around 400,000 people in 2026.

The country bordering Ukraine has grown into Nato’s third-largest military, with 216,000 personnel, and plans to expand its forces by nearly a third over the next decade.