These NATO countries have just three years to prepare for a Russian attack, Poland warns

Countries on NATO’s eastern flank have as little as three years to prepare for the likelihood of a Russian attack that could turn them into the next Ukraine, Polish officials warn.

Jacek Siewiera, the chief of Poland’s National Security Bureau, said a recent German report warning that NATO’s eastern bloc must be ready to fend off Russia within the next six to 10 years was far “too optimistic.

“If we want to avoid war, the NATO countries on the eastern flank should adopt a shorter, three-year time horizon to prepare for confrontation,” he told the Nasz Dziennik newspaper.

“This is the time window when we have to create a capability on the eastern flank that would provide a clear signal deterring aggression,” Siewiera warned. “The arms industry in Russia is working in three shifts [each day] and can rebuild its resources within the next three years.”

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, the Kremlin has repeatedly alluded to encroaching on three Baltic countries in NATO’s eastern bloc — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The warning came as:

• It surfaced that the Pentagon told Ukraine its counterattack would be too late to prevent Russia from bolstering its forces on the front lines.
• Officials estimated that Russia has lost more than 320,000 troops during its invasion of Ukraine.
• A Ukrainian soldier described the stalemate on the eastern front and how he feels abandoned by Kyiv while enduring the trench-style warfare.

Gabrielius Landsbergis, the Lithuanian foreign minister, told world leaders in Berlin last week that Russia was ready to wage war with the West, as he pleaded for European Union leaders to continue supporting Ukraine.

Landsbergis said the West needs to be united in preparing for a possible Russian attack, warning that if nations along the eastern bloc are left to fend for themselves, they will fall.

The troubling developments came as the White House said Monday that it was “out of money and nearly out of time” to help provide more weapons to Ukraine, as Congress has yet to approve further funding after already forking over $111 billion in military aid.

Ukraine is finding it difficult to reclaim the territories taken over by Russia, with one soldier on the front lines describing the hell he’s encountered along the Dnipro River separating Kyiv and Moscow forces.

“The entire river crossing is under constant fire,” said the soldier, who was not named, to the BBC in a piece published Monday. “I’ve seen boats with my comrades on board just disappear into the water after being hit, lost forever to the Dnipro River.”

The soldier’s description of the front lines harkens back to World War I’s trench warfare, where neither side is able to make significant advancements while hiding in holes to avoid heavy gunfire and drone attacks. He also chastised his government for its alleged failure to lead the troops out of the stalemate.

“No one knows the goals. Many believe that the command simply abandoned us,” the soldier said, noting that many of the latest recruits to the Ukrainian army are complete greenhorns who don’t even know how to swim with just three weeks of training under their belt.

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, also made the same comparison to World War I last month, stating that his nation and Russia are effectively in a stalemate.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admonished the comments and refused to describe the current fighting as a deadlock.

The Ukrainian leader has emphasized that the battle along the Dnipro is the key to driving out the Russian occupation in the south.

Despite Zelensky’s hopes, the US warned Ukraine officials of the possibility of a stalemate in early 2023 during a war games event in Germany, the Washington Post said.

The Pentagon had stressed that Ukraine needed to go on an all-out counterattack in mid-April before Russia could strengthen its forces on the front lines, but Kyiv refused, insisting that it didn’t have the proper weapons and training needed for the offensive.

As the war approaches its second year, the British Ministry of Defense estimates that more than 320,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine, the Telegraph reports.

The exact number remains unclear as Russia has a “long-established culture of dishonest reporting,” the British agency said, noting that an order from Russian President Vladimir Putin last week to bolster the army by 170,000 would bring the army’s number up to 1.3 million soldiers.

The Russian death toll eclipses that of Ukrainian soldiers, with previous reports over the summer estimating about 70,000 soldiers killed. Ukraine does not disclose official figures.