Reuters: Russia considers escalating Ukraine war with strikes on NATO bases in Baltics, Romania
Russian president Vladimir Putin is reportedly looking to escalate the war in Ukraine with possible strikes on NATO bases in Romania or the Baltic states, according to a Russian source cited by Reuters.
Despite the ongoing fuel shortages caused by Ukrainian drone deep strikes on refineries, Russia is aiming to escalate the conflict regionally. The attacks have pushed Russian president Vladimir Putin to lean more toward continuing the fighting, according to Reuters sources.
One of the Reuters sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, emphasized that there is a "high probability" of escalation in the coming months. The warning corroborates Ukrainian intelligence reports indicating further military action by Russia, including new operations in Ukraine or a possible attack on another European country.
Striking NATO bases in Romania or the Baltics would test the alliance’s collective defense. Isolated attacks comparable to the incident involving a Russian drone that crashed into an apartment building in Galați would serve such a goal, according to Jack Watling of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).
However, for such a step, Russia would require mandatory conscription, which Putin has hesitated to announce since the beginning of the war.
The escalation may also take place in stages. In an article published at the end of June in the newspaper Kommersant, Andrei Ilnitsky, a former official at the Russian Ministry of Defense, said that the process could begin with the destruction of 30 major industrial targets in Ukraine.
The next phase could involve attacks on NATO bases in the Baltic states and Romania, as well as on facilities within the European Union that manufacture drones and long-range missiles for Ukraine, he added.
Since the beginning of the war until now, approximately two million soldiers have been killed, wounded, or reported missing, of whom 1.4 million are Russian, according to a recent estimate by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Meanwhile, Ukraine announced that at least 25 ships have been hit and set on fire over the past four days in the Sea of Azov, the inland sea linked to the Black Sea by the Kerch Strait. The attacks look to isolate occupied Crimea from the rest of Russia, depriving it of fuel.
Attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure also continued last night, when the Ilsky oil refinery in the southern Krasnodar region caught fire after a drone attack.
(Photo source: Igor Dolgov|Dreamstime.com)
