NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte (featured below) has pledged to increase support for Ukraine and bolster the 32-nation alliance’s own defenses along its long eastern border with Russia, reports Associated Press. His comment came in the wake of Russian drone strikes near the Ukraine-Poland border.
Rutte claimed the strikes close to NATO territory show Russian President Vladimir Putin's “desperation and also his desire to sow fear and terror.” He says, “Russia is growing increasingly reckless as it continues its terrible war against Ukraine.”
Robert Maginnis is national defense analyst and president of Maginnis Strategies LLC.
“It’s by design, and it's just short of instigating something much larger to put pressure on European nations not to support Ukraine,” Maginnis states. “Now, I don’t think that the war is going to end anytime soon. Putin still believes that time is on its side.”
Maginnis says Putin’s strategy is to wear down Ukraine and test Western political resolve.
“They're increasing the pressure, and they’re just going to do it short of some sort of provocation that would trigger an Article 5 response. That's what concerns Poland,” Maginnis says.
According to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, an attack against one NATO ally is considered and attack against them all. Therefore, if one member is attacked, the member nations rally together and assist in whatever way they deem necessary to restore and maintain security.
Maginnis says to keep in mind that the U.S. has troops in Poland.
“The Fifth Corps is in Poland. We have troops that are leaning forward in the eastern part of Europe, all the way from the Baltics to the Black Sea,” Maginnis states. “We're vulnerable to strikes as well, and I'm sure Putin is trying to avoid that.”
Rutte said that Putin is wrong to think that he can stop NATO from supporting Ukraine and undermine its unity.
