Even before a Russian drone hit a Romanian apartment complex last week, European leaders were worried that Vladimir Putin is preparing to amplify his war beyond the Ukrainian territory he has failed to conquer.
There is “growing fear” that Putin will undo the current stalemate by “expanding the conflict to Europe,” said The Wall Street Journal. The Kremlin has made “increasingly bellicose threats” against neighboring Baltic states, and Russian drones approached Lithuanian airspace last month. Putin broadly aims to “threaten the whole European security architecture,” Benjamin Haddad, France’s minister for European affairs, said to the outlet. Russian leaders are encouraging such fears. European authorities “have unilaterally entered into a war with Russia” by supporting Ukraine, the former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on X after the Romanian incident. “The peaceful sleep is over.“
What did the commentators say?
Putin might be “starting to think about the next war,” David Ignatius said at The Washington Post. He might see the opportunity to strike “before European nations fully rearm,” and while U.S. President Donald Trump is “treating NATO like a punching bag.” The Russian leader might soon decide that his moment to “challenge NATO and impose a new order is closing.” A continent-wide war is a “chilling prospect.“
A new Russian attack is “plausible,” and NATO is “vulnerable” unless member countries “get their act together,” Alexander Gabuev, the director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said at The New York Times. Putin sees NATO as a “major threat to Russia’s security.” The organization’s defense sector now “produces more tanks, shells and missiles” than before the Ukraine invasion. And Putin has surrounded himself with “sycophants” who are “afraid to speak the truth.” Europe is entering “the most dangerous period.“
Europe “needs to be united to fend off Russian aggression,” Tom Clifford said at the Kyiv Post. Ukraine’s defense against invasion is “protecting Europe,” but that does not mean Europe’s leaders “have secured the continent” from Russia’s war-making. Putin knows European opposition is “less than it should be.” The democracy embraced by Europe since World War II “always has to be fought for.”
What next?
The Russian drone that hit Romania on Friday “has only added to the wariness Europeans feel” as the war in Ukraine persists, said The New York Times. Moscow’s ongoing “campaign of cyberattacks and sabotage against critical infrastructure” is a warning to NATO countries and an attempt to force a conclusion to the war in Ukraine. Putin is attempting to “reestablish some form of dominance” to settle the war “from a position of strength,” Ivo Dalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, said to the outlet.
Ukraine’s wartime success “should not lead us to underestimate Russia,” Peter Dickinson said at The Atlantic Council. Many Europeans seem “unimpressed” by the threat. But Moscow’s “expansionist agenda” and “well-armed military” signal that Russia will “remain a hostile power” as long as Putin is in charge.
Romanian drone strike is the latest warning sign
