A leading NATO official has warned that civilians in the West should prepare for all-out war with Russia.
Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, chairman of NATO’s military committee, said that while the armed forces are already prepared for the outbreak of war, citizens will also have to be prepared for a shock that would require significant change in their lives.
In comments quoted by The Telegraph, Admiral Bauer said: “We want to perceive that we are not at peace. And that’s why we [NATO forces] are preparing for a clash with Russia. “
“But the debate is much broader. The trade base and citizens also want to perceive that they play a role. “
Admiral Bauer said Sweden had done the right thing by calling for its population to prepare for war earlier this month.
“It all starts there,” he said. The understanding that everything can be planned and that everything will go according to plan in the next 20 years. “
The official’s caution comes ahead of the release of NATO training since the Cold War, as the alliance trains to repel an invasion by Russian forces.
Some 90,000 troops are expected to take part in the Steadfast Defender exercise, which will run until May, adding 20,000 British troops.
According to a Russian official, a fire broke out in a garage in the western Russian city of Klintsy after a Ukrainian drone shot down the army.
Alexander Bogomaz, the regional governor, said oil tanks at the storage facility caught fire after the weapon, allegedly headed for targets in the town, was brought down.
Nobody was injured, according to preliminary information.
Bogomaz said on Telegram that firefighters were running to put out the flames.
Welcome to our war policy in Ukraine.
Yesterday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held his long annual press conference, in which he accused the West of escalating fighting and showing no interest in a peace agreement.
He also dismissed entering into discussions with the US over nuclear arms control while it’s supporting Kyiv.
Here’s a look at the news from the last 24 hours:
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Estonia has asked the head of its branch of the Russian Orthodox Church to leave the country, calling him a national security risk, Estonian public broadcaster ERR reports.
Valeri Reshetnikov, who heads the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate as Metropolitan Eugene, has been denied an extension of his permit and will have to leave until Feb. 6, ERR said, citing a spokesman for the country’s police and border guards.
The Estonian government has called on Reshetnikov to “stop justifying the Kremlin regime and the movements of the Russian army in his statements,” but he has not done so, the spokesman said.
Estonia and its Baltic neighbors, Latvia and Lithuania, are Ukraine’s most powerful supporters in its fight against Russia’s invasion.
The three Baltic states were ruled through Moscow for decades in the Soviet era and are now members of NATO and the EU.
We have additional comments from White House National Security Council senior director Pranay Vaddi, who spoke to a think tank in Washington.
He said Russia’s refusal to discuss nuclear issues with the US casts doubt for now on its willingness to engage on compliance with or a follow-on to the New START arms control treaty,
“We have to take Russia’s word for it when it comes to its current position on arms dialogue,” he said.
“They refuse to have bilateral interaction on those issues. This casts doubt on Russia’s willingness to have interaction in a verbal exchange on the follow-up to New START or the return to compliance with New START. “
What is the New START treaty?
START stands for “Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty” and is a nuclear arms control pact between Russia and the US which caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that both the countries can deploy.
It went into effect in 2011 and was extended for another five years in 2021, after Joe Biden took office.
Under the terms of the agreement, Moscow and Washington commit to deploying up to 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads and up to 700 long-range missiles and bombers.
But last year, Vladimir Putin said Russia was postponing its participation in the treaty.
Ukraine hit targets in St. Petersburg, Russia, overnight, with a locally produced drone flying 775 miles, a Ukrainian government minister said via the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Oleksandr Kamyshin, the minister of strategic industries who oversees weapons production, was quoted as saying in Davos: “Last night we hit the target, and this thing flew exactly 1,250km last night.”
A Russian-appointed official in southeastern occupied Ukraine said earlier that Ukraine had tried unsuccessfully to attack a Russian oil terminal in the Baltic Sea with a drone overnight.
The nature of the security threat posed by North Korea could change “drastically” in the coming decade as a result of its unprecedented cooperation with Russia, the White House’s senior director for arms control has said tonight.
Pranay Vaddi said special attention needs to be paid not only to North Korea’s nuclear aid to Russia, basically in the form of missile systems, but also to “what may happen in another direction. “
“What we’re seeing between Russia and North Korea is an unprecedented level of cooperation in the military sphere,” Mr Vaddi said.
“And I say this deliberately: unprecedented, I’ve never noticed this before. “
He went on to say: “I think the nature of North Korea as a threat in the region could drastically change over the coming decade as a result of this cooperation.”
Mr Vaddi said the US would continue to work with South Korea to make sure their combined “extended deterrence” was as credible as possible in the face of the evolving North Korea threat.
In the final moments, Biden said his meeting with congressional leaders to discuss Ukraine and his supplemental national security briefing “went well. “
The U. S. leader told reporters at the White House: “I think the vast majority of members of Congress help Ukraine.
“The question is whether a small minority will get in the way, which would be a disaster. “
Congressional Republicans have blocked the emergency investment requested through Biden for Ukraine.
He called for $61. 4 billion in additional investments to supply Ukraine with weapons and fill U. S. arsenals as the country nears two years of war with Russia.
The requested budget for Ukraine is an “additional” request that also includes $14. 3 billion for Israel and $13. 6 billion for border protection.
Ukrainian troops are first-person viewing drones near the town of Horlivka in the eastern Donetsk region.
The region has been the scene of intense fighting for months as Russian forces try to take it completely.