Important Takeaways:
- The Polish president said there’s a need for NATO’s deterrence to shift eastward to Poland following the end of the Cold War
- Polish President Andrzej Duda has asked the US to deploy nuclear weapons to Poland to deter a potential Russian invasion.
- Duda argued that NATO’s deterrence should shift eastward from Germany to Poland following the end of the Cold War, adding that he has discussed the option with Washington’s Ukraine-Russia envoy Keith Kellogg. However, Duda did not divulge the details of the conversation.
- “The borders of NATO moved east in 1999, so 26 years later there should also be a shift of the NATO infrastructure east. For me this is obvious,” Duda told the Financial Times (FT).
- “I think it’s not only that the time has come, but that it would be safer if those weapons were already here,” he added.
- Duda made a similar remark in the summer of 2024, saying at the time that Poland was ready to host nuclear arms if NATO decides to deploy the weapons in the face of Russia reinforcing its armaments in Belarus and Kaliningrad.
- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also made similar comments in recent days, saying Warsaw has been “talking seriously” with France to deploy its nuclear arsenal in Poland after French President Emmanuel Macron talked of a potential nuclear umbrella for Europe.
- Duda also referenced Russia’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus in his comments to the FT. Poland shares a border with Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave and Moscow ally Belarus.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has slammed Europe’s “cowardice” to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin as his nation looks to arm itself with nuclear weapons to avoid the same fate as Ukraine.
- Tusk said the current situation in Europe, which is scrambling to react to President Trump’s decision to halt military aid and intelligence to Ukraine, would not have happened if the union took harsher actions against Russia.
- “Our deficit has been the lack of the will to act, having no confidence, and sometimes even cowardice,” Tusk told his parliament on Friday, adding that Moscow would have been rendered “helpless against a united Europe.”
- The premier has called on Europe to accept that US aid may not be returning to Ukraine under the Trump administration, and that it’s up to them to act now before it’s too late.
- To that effect, Tusk said his nation must be ready to fight in the event of a Russian invasion, with Poland currently in serious talks to gain some of France’s nuclear arsenal for protection.
- “Poland must pursue the most advanced capabilities, including nuclear and modern unconventional weapons,” Tusk said in a statement. “This is a serious race — a race for security, not for war.”
- Tusk added that Poland will be building an armed force of more than 500,000 soldiers as he called for a plan to make sure every man in the nation undergoes military training.
- Poland’s army currently stands at more than 200,000 fighters, making it the third-largest in NATO after the US and Turkey.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- NATO was forced to scramble its warplanes in Poland today as Vladimir Putin used strategic bombers and missiles to attack neighboring Ukraine – even as Vladimir Putin insists he wants peace ‘as soon as possible’.
- Putin’s air force deployed Tu-95MS nuclear-capable strategic bombers to pound targets across Ukraine, causing panic in Kyiv as residents rushed for the metro underground shelters.
- Explosions were heard in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and Sumy, as well as in several towns across the regions of Zaporizhzhia and Chernihiv. Drones were also used by Russia, with several people reportedly suffering injuries.
- Warsaw’s armed forces operation command headquarters ordered NATO jets to patrol Polish airspace as Russian bombers and missiles soared over Ukraine amid fears they could approach the Polish border.
- ‘Attention, due to the activity of long-range aviation of the Russian Federation, striking targets located, in particular, in the west of Ukraine, military aviation has begun to operate in the airspace of Poland,’ the command headquarters said.
- Ground-based air defenses and radar reconnaissance systems were also ‘put on alert’.
- It comes just one day after a US B-52 bomber flew a sortie less than 50 miles from the Russian border in a show of strength on the third anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine.
- The B-52 jet, which is described as providing the US with ‘immediate nuclear and conventional global strike capability’, flew from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire to the frontline NATO state and was flanked by F35s and F-A18 fighters.
- The planes jetted in formation over soldiers and tanks as a military parade of over 1,000 troops from NATO and the Estonia’s Defense Forces took place in the Estonian capital of Tallinn.
- February 24 marked three years since Russian troops invaded Ukraine, and is also Estonian Independence Day.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- NATO scrambled its warplanes early today in response to a fierce Russian bombardment of Ukraine close to its border with Poland.
- The Russian strikes – hitting vital energy facilities in the coldest weeks of winter – were led by Vladimir Putin’s Tu-22 and Tu-95 strategic bombers.
- The onslaught was seen as instant revenge for Tuesday’s Ukrainian aerial strikes on Russia, the heaviest of the almost three-year war.
- In particular, Putin was rattled by Ukraine’s use of British Storm Shadow and American ATACMS missiles which hit key defense facilities including a chemical plant in Bryansk region.
- NATO forces went on full alert in Poland with warplanes scrambled, the country’s operational command headquarters said.
- ‘Duty fighter pairs have been scrambled, and the ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems have reached the highest state of readiness,’ said a statement.
- ‘The steps taken are aimed at ensuring security in the areas bordering the threatened areas.’
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- NATO fighter jets have been scrambled in Poland and along the Alliance’s eastern flank
- Russia staged a brutal attack on Ukraine this morning, targeting energy and military facilities to plunge civilians into darkness and misery ahead of the festive season.
- A massive Russian onslaught had been expected, but there were no immediate reports of fearsome medium range ballistic missile Oreshnik being deployed, as had been predicted, although it may yet come.
- Instead, Ukraine was hit with Iskander, Kalibr, Kinzhal [or Dagger] missiles and Iranian-designed Shahed kamikaze drones, launched from Tu-95MS strategic bombers and MiG-31Ks.
- The capital Kyiv was hit by major power cuts – and underground trains stopped running, while people huddled in metro stations to escape the bombardment.
- There were reports of an airbase being hit, along with warehouses and a plant producing drones and repairing helicopters.
- Ukraine’s national power operator Ukrenergo warned that today half the country would be without power – with temperatures of minus 5C – due to the latest Putin onslaught, ahead the Christmas festivities.
- Explosions ranged across Ukraine from Ivano-Frankivsk in the west to Kharkiv in the east.
- Among the other regions hit were Kyiv, Odesa, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, Khmelnitsk, Lviv, and Ternopil.
- Russia had warned of a powerful response to a Ukrainian strike this week with US-supplied ATACMS missiles on a military airbase in Taganrog.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Poland needs to prepare its soldiers for all-out conflict, its armed forces chief of staff said on Wednesday, as the country boosts the number of troops on its border with Russia and Belarus.
- Poland’s relations with Russia and its ally Belarus have deteriorated sharply since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, starting a war that is still being fought.
- “Today, we need to prepare our forces for full-scale conflict, not an asymmetric-type conflict,” army chief of staff General Wieslaw Kukula told a press conference.
- “This forces us to find a good balance between the border mission and maintaining the intensity of training in the army,” he said.
- Speaking at the same event, deputy defense minister Pawel Bejda said that as of August, the number of troops guarding Poland’s eastern border would be increased to 8,000 from the current 6,000, with an additional rearguard of 9,000 able to step up within 48 hours notice.
- The size of the armed forces stood at about 190,000 personnel at the end of last year, including ground, air, naval, special forces and territorial defense forces. Poland plans to increase this to 300,000 troops within a few years.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Poland has handed an official request to Washington to have U.S. nuclear weapons hosted in Poland.
- No word yet on any need or desire in the US to put such weapons there.
- Russia earlier cautioned Poland that nuclear weapons in their country would **not** make Poland any safer. In fact, they said, it would merely make Poland a target for Russian nuclear weapons.
- Hal Turner Snap Analysis
- Nuclear weapons “hosted” in Poland; Sounds like an exchange student or something innocent, like it’s a cultural program.
- My bet . . . and this is pure conjecture on my part — Poland didn’t actually “request” anything.
- They were just told that the US is going to deploy nukes on their territory.
- The nukes will be controlled by US of course, not Poland; Poland would have no interest in this affair whatsoever. . . except when they get blown up by Russia for having them so close to Russia.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Russia has warned that Poland will make itself a ‘priority target’ if it hosts NATO nuclear weapons on its territory. In a Thursday statement Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said “Moves in this direction will not provide greater security (for Poland or other nations that host such weapons).” He was further quoted in Russian media as saying:
- Moscow considers any expansion of NATO’s nuclear-sharing arrangement as “deeply destabilizing” in nature, “and in fact threatening” Russia, Ryabkov was quoted as saying by TASS on Thursday. This applies to joint missions, where non-nuclear members of the US-led bloc are trained to use American hardware, and even more so to the permanent stationing of such weapons “which hotheads in Warsaw are talking about,” he said.
- In follow-up, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stipulated that “any nuclear weapons deployed to Poland would be legitimate targets in the event of war with the alliance.” Russian media translations said Moscow would see this as a “priority target”.
- While three NATO members are officially nuclear weapons states – the United States, France and the United Kingdom – others are authorized to host nukes (typically ‘tactical’ nuclear weapons). They are Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.
- Apparently, Poland is now throwing its name in the hat for NATO’s nuclear-sharing program, which would expand Western nuke placement right up to Russia’s backyard.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Polish President Andrzej Duda said Poland is “ready” to host nuclear weapons on its territory if NATO decides to reinforce its eastern flank.
- “Russia is increasingly militarizing the Königsberg oblast (Kaliningrad). Recently, it has been relocating its nuclear weapons to Belarus,” Duda said in an interview published Monday by Polish outlet Fakt.
- “If our allies decide to deploy nuclear weapons as part of nuclear sharing on our territory as well, in order to strengthen the security of NATO’s eastern flank, we are ready for it,” he added.
- Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, President Vladimir Putin has made veiled nuclear threats toward the West, even stashing atomic weapons in Belarus, which borders NATO members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Poland issues shocking warning of upcoming Russian attack on NATO countries
- Poland has warned of a shocking impending Russian attack on the West that could come within the next three years.
- In an interview with Nasz Dziennik, the head of Poland’s national security agency, Jacek Siewiera, said that Russia could attack NATO countries within 36 months.
- Siewiera argued Russia could attack Poland, Estonia, Romania, and Lithuania as they are on NATO’s eastern flank.
- He said: “If we want to avoid war, NATO countries on the eastern flank should adopt a shorter, three-year time horizon to prepare for confrontation. This is the time when a potential must be created on the eastern flank that would be a clear signal deterring aggression. Therefore, it is necessary to further increase the number of Polish troops.”
- This comes after German think tank German Council on Foreign Relations issued a warning that Europe needs to be on high alert to Russian escalation that could result in a direct attack. But their time frame was a little more optimistic.
- They said in a statement: “With its imperial ambitions, Russia represents the greatest and most urgent threat to Nato countries.
- “Once intensive fighting will have ended in Ukraine, the regime in Moscow may need as little as six to ten years to reconstitute its armed forces.
Read the original article by clicking here.
