NATO Plan Details Deep Strikes if Russia Attacks Allies

NATO's top military commander has set out how the alliance would respond if Russia attacked one of its members, with a plan that combines an army of drones, a counteroffensive and missile strikes deep behind Russian lines. General Alexus Grynkewich, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, presented the concept at a forum in Warsaw and summarised it as block, blunt and break.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the plan calls for an extensive autonomous zone along the eastern flank where drones and ground robots would hold back advancing Russian forces. Long-range strikes on targets such as military bases, airfields and logistics hubs would then weaken Russia's control of the skies and allow US and allied ground forces to launch a counterattack.

Reports said that the strikes could reach targets near St. Petersburg, in Kaliningrad and in Belarus, but officials stressed that the plan is conditional and applies only to a scenario in which Russia attacks a NATO country. The aim, they say, is to stop an invasion early and deter it in the first place, while limiting the risk of escalation into a wider conventional or nuclear war.

The presentation coincided with Steadfast Duel, a ten-day command-post exercise involving more than 20,000 personnel from NATO countries, which simulated a large allied force repelling an invasion from the east. Alliance planners say the lessons of nearly five years of war in Ukraine, including the mass use of drones, have shaped the new approach.

Moscow has long denied any plan to attack NATO and accuses the alliance of provoking tension. Even so, the fresh details have drawn attention in Europe, where Baltic states and Poland want strong deterrence and other allies are keen to avoid any step that could be seen as escalation.