AN “apocalyptic” war is looming over Europe as Russia lines its borders with new drone bases capable of striking Nato and Kremlin warships stalk the seas, experts warn.
Desperate Vladimir Putin is rapidly expanding Russia’s drone network and developing new warfare tactics as he prepares to take on the West.
Professor Mark Galeotti, a modern Russia expert at defence think tank RUSI, said: “A war between Russia and Nato would be apocalyptic.
“Russia would launch comprehensive campaigns and drones would be a serious part of that.”
Dozens of drone launch sites have emerged along Russia’s border with Ukraine and Belarus – placing Nato allies well within reach of Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
Images showed enough storage at one base for more than 1,000 drones to be kept on site at one time.
The bases have been used to fire Moscow’s long-range suicide drones at Ukraine, but experts warn they could be turned on Europe.
Missiles launched from the secret sites – identified by The Telegraph – could reach Nato territory with “the greatest of ease”, European affairs expert, Professor Anthony Glees said.
He told The Sun: “Russia is creating a massive arc of menace which stretches across Europe.
“This capability is a real and present danger to NATO.”
Moscow has started to deploy a high-speed jet variant of its Iranian Shahed drone model – capable of reaching targets almost 620 miles away.
Named Geran-4 and Geran-5, the UAV’s can evade air defence systems while carrying a 90kg payload, according to Ukrainian government documents leaked online.
Glees estimates Turkey, Romania, eastern Poland and the Baltic Republics, Lativa, Lithuania and Estonia are all under threat.
“Every singe NATO member within the Russian arc of menace is Putin’s cross-hairs”, he said.
Putin is becoming increasingly desperate as he faces a string of worrying crises on his doorstep with national support beginning to wane, and the Kremlin’s cash dwindling.
As his war with Ukraine stalls to an embarrassing stalemate, the tyrant is being pushed closer towards a last-ditch attack on Nato in a bid to save face.
Glees said: “Russia is not winning the war against Ukraine, and by not winning it, it is losing. Putin is desperate.
“Threatening NATO, planning incursions into NATO territory, would be the last desperate throw of the dice.”
According to Prof Glees, an attack on Lithuania, via the Kaliningrad enclave or Estonia and Latvia, via the Russian mainland are Russia’s “big targets”.
A new US intelligence report even revealed this week that US officials fear Putin is plotting a small-scale land incursion to test the alliance.
The despot could probe Nato’s defences with a possible attack at any point between autumn this year and 2029, the report said.
But Nato members believe Putin is already conducting covert attacks against the alliance, including Russian drones breaching its territory.
Western fighter jets were scrambled 250 per cent more in July compared with a year ago amid escalating tensions with Russia.
Prof Galeotti said: “Ukraine are currently the world’s best drone operators. But Russia is second.
“Nato haven’t got serious enough about its anti drone defences.
“We’ve been able to shoot down cheap, stray drones but that’s very different to a serious campaign of strikes.
“We cannot underestimate the lessons Russia is learning from its war in Ukraine.
“Whenever this war ends Moscow will begin rebuilding its army based on these lessons.
“Nato is very unlikely to go through this kind of extraordinary redevelopment.”
While Russia bolsters its drone stock, Putin is also escalating tensions with Nato at sea.
On Monday a Russian frigate with nuclear-capable hypersonic missiles was spotted in the Baltic sea off the German island of Fehmarnin, a popular destination for tourists.
The island lies close to the Danish straits, the main passageway linking the Baltic Sea to the North Sea and the Atlantic, and a chokepoint through which Russian ships transit toward open water.
Capable of long-range strikes as well as anti-submarine warfare, Admiral Kasatonov is the second vessel sent by the Kremlin to the enter the area.
It comes just weeks after the destroyer Admiral Levchenko was also spotted in the region.
And just days earlier Putin threatened European states – including Britain – after action against his shadow fleet oil tankers.
“It’s nothing but piracy and robbery,” he said after the UK government defended the seizure of sanctioned tanker the Smyrtos.
“If this is done, we will be forced to respond in kind … [Russia can retaliate] in any area where we see it as necessary and appropriate.”
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of the Russian national security council, has also threatened attacks on European ships.
Referring to NATO countries that supported Ukraine, he said Russia has the “right to attack any merchant ship belonging to an enemy state” if there is “sufficient suspicion” that it is transporting enemy cargo.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16859365/putin-drone-bases-nato-warship-missiles-stalks-island/