NATO chief warns Russia: any attack would be 'utterly futile' — SkimNews
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- General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO's top commander, warned at the Warsaw Security Forum on October 12 that his forces would destroy 'anything and everything' involved in any assault on alliance territory if Moscow was 'foolish enough' to attack.
- Grynkewich outlined a three-pronged approach of blocking, blunting, and breaking enemy forces, stressing it would extend beyond the initial attacking force to include reserves and anything that 'supports, sustains, and controls that force.'
- Grynkewich said he chose to speak publicly because recent acts of sabotage and arson across the alliance had made the alliance's one billion citizens nervous, framing the address as direct reassurance: 'We've got this. We know what we need to do.'
- European governments accuse Moscow of escalating sabotage, drone incursions, and cyberattacks, while Russia warned last month it could use nuclear weapons if NATO attempted to cut off its Kaliningrad exclave.
- Trump announced a deal with Putin allowing Russia to supply diesel to global markets and renewed his criticism of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, fueling lingering European concerns about US commitment to NATO's mutual defence pact.
- Grynkewich downplayed those Washington-commitment fears, recalling Trump spoke of 'love' at a NATO summit in Ankara in July: 'I was in the room and I felt the love.'
Why it matters: Grynkewich's explicit public reassurance is aimed at one billion rattled NATO citizens, but it lands the same week Trump struck a diesel arrangement with Moscow — the deterrence message coexists awkwardly with a US president normalizing Russian energy revenue and bashing Zelenskyy, the very ally NATO exists to defend.
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