NATO’s top commander has warned that his forces would destroy “anything and everything” if someone was “foolish enough” to attack the alliance, as European concerns have mounted over a potential Russian attack on its territory amid the war in Ukraine.

“We will block the initial attack. If the attack persists, we will blunt it and prevent any enemy advance. And if required, we will break the enemy’s forces and the operational war-fighting system arrayed against us,” US Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich told the Warsaw Security Forum on Monday, without mentioning Russia by name.

end of list

Grynkewich stressed that NATO is a defensive alliance and that he does not believe that a conflict is imminent or inevitable. The most effective way to preserve peace is to prepare for war and to maintain open lines of communication to “resolve misunderstandings”, he added.

European governments have accused Moscow of stepping up a campaign of sabotage, drone incursions and cyberattacks against them, while Russia warned last month it could use nuclear weapons if NATO attempted to cut off its Baltic Kaliningrad exclave where it has a major military outpost.

NATO’s 10-year strategy, created in 2022, described Russia as the alliance’s most significant security threat.

“We will, in short, ensure any attack, against any ally, proves utterly futile,” Grynkewich said.

Attacking anything that ‘supports, sustains and controls that force’

Grynkewich added that NATO’s response would not be limited to forces involved in an initial attack.

“Should the adversary choose to press the attack or commit his reserves, we will break the warfighting system engaged against us,” he said.

“This includes not just the attacking force itself, but anything and everything that supports, sustains and controls that force.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said this month that Russia had no plans to attack any European country and wanted to coexist peacefully. Such declarations have not reassured European leaders, who cite similar statements by Russia before its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow has also repeatedly denied involvement in sabotage and other hybrid operations.

‘We’ve got this’

Grynkewich said he had decided to talk publicly about NATO’s plans because recent acts of sabotage and arson had made people around the alliance nervous.

“What I want to do is assure the one billion citizens of our alliance that we’ve got this. We know what we need to do. We know how we would do it,” he said.

Grynkewich sought to downplay concerns about Washington’s commitment to the alliance, citing President Donald Trump’s reception at a NATO summit in Ankara in July.

“I was in the room and I felt the love,” he said.