Countries on NATO’s eastern flank have at least three years to prepare for a possible Russian attack that could turn them into Ukraine next, Polish officials have warned.
Jacek Siewiera, head of Poland’s National Security Bureau, said a recent German report warning that NATO’s eastern bloc must be ready to fend off Russia in the next six to 10 years was “too optimistic.
“If we want to avoid war, the NATO countries on the eastern flank should use a shorter period of three years to prepare for confrontation,” he told Nasz Dziennik newspaper.
“This is the window of time when we need to create a capability on the eastern flank that will give a clear signal deterring aggression,” Siewiera warned. “The arms industry in Russia works in three shifts [each day] and can rebuild its resources in the next three years.”
Since Russia launched a massive invasion of Ukraine last year, the Kremlin has repeatedly referred to an invasion of the three Baltic states in NATO’s eastern bloc – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The warning comes as:
- It emerged that the Pentagon told Ukraine its counterattack would be too late to prevent Russia from bolstering its forces on the front lines.
- Officials estimate that Russia has lost more than 320,000 troops during the invasion of Ukraine.
- A Ukrainian soldier described the stalemate in the east and how he felt abandoned by Kyiv as it waged trench warfare.
After nearly two years of fighting, Russian and Ukrainian soldiers are at a standoff along Ukraine’s southern border. Getty Images The Ukrainian army has likened the battlefield to the trenches of World War I. AFP via Getty Images
Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s foreign minister, told world leaders in Berlin last week that Russia was ready to go to war with the West, while pleading with European Union leaders to continue supporting Ukraine.
Landsbergis said the West needed to unite in preparation for a possible Russian attack, warning that if countries along the eastern bloc were left to fend for themselves, they would fall.
The alarming development comes as the White House said on Monday that it is “running out of money and running out of time” to help provide more weapons to Ukraine, as Congress has yet to approve further funding after already spending more than $111 billion in military aid.
There was little or no progress for either side on the Dnipro River near Kherson. AP
Ukraine is finding it difficult to reclaim territory seized by Russia, with one soldier on the front line describing the hell he found along the Dnipro River that separates Kyiv and Moscow’s forces.
“The whole river crossing is constantly under attack,” the soldier, who was not named, told the BBC in an article published Monday. “I once saw a boat with my comrades just disappear into the water after being hit, lost forever into the Dnipro River.”
The soldiers’ description of the front line is reminiscent of the trench warfare of World War I, where neither side could make significant progress while hiding in holes to avoid heavy fire and drone attacks. He also criticized his government for allegedly failing to lead the army out of the stalemate.
“No one knows the goal. Many believe that the command just abandoned us,” the soldier said, noting that many of the Ukrainian army’s latest recruits are complete greenhorns who don’t know how to swim with only three weeks of training under their belts.
A battle along a riverbank led a Ukrainian soldier to realize that some new recruits couldn’t swim. AFP via Getty Images
The commander-in-chief of Ukraine, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, also making the same comparison to World War I last month, stated that his country and Russia were effectively at a stalemate.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rebuked the comments and refused to describe the current fighting as a stalemate.
The Ukrainian leader has stressed that the battle along the Dnipro is key to expelling Russian occupation in the south.
Contrary to Zelensky’s hopes, the US warned Ukrainian officials of a possible standoff in early 2023 during a war games event in Germany, the Washington Post said.
Ukrainian troops guard their stations along the Dnipro River. AP A Ukrainian service member trains for winter combat Friday. AFP via Getty Images
The Pentagon has insisted that Ukraine would have to launch an all-out counteroffensive by mid-April before Russia can reinforce its forces on the front lines, but Kyiv has refused, insisting that it lacks the proper weapons and training needed for such an attack. .
As the war approaches its second year, Britain’s Ministry of Defense estimates that more than 320,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine, the Telegraph reported.
The exact number remains unclear because Russia has a “long-standing culture of dishonest reporting,” the British agency said, noting that an order from Russian President Vladimir Putin last week to increase troops by 170,000 would bring the number of troops up to 1.3 million. soldier
The Russian death toll surpassed that of Ukrainian soldiers, with previous reports over the summer estimating some 70,000 soldiers were killed. Ukraine does not disclose official figures.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
