Europe braces for 'most extreme' military scenario as Trump-Putin 2.0 begins
Some European governments are afraid that Putin may turn his armies their way after Ukraine. They worry President-elect Trump may not help if Russia attacks.
LONDON — All over Europe, there are signs of a continent steeling itself for the unthinkable.
Lithuania plans to lay mines on its bridges to Russia, ready to detonate should Kremlin tanks try to cross. In the nearby Baltic Sea, NATO ships are hunting Russia’s so-called “Shadow Fleet” accused of cutting undersea communications cables. And in Europe’s skies there are plans to construct a vast missile defense system, similar to Israel’s “Iron Dome” but with the explicit purpose of shooting down rockets launched by Moscow.
European governments and citizens worry that an emboldened Kremlin may turn his armies their way after Ukraine. There is also widespread nervousness that the new U.S. president — an isolationist — has suggested he may not defend America’s historical NATO allies if they are attacked by Russia.
While President Donald Trump this week criticized Vladimir Putin, Trump has showed few signs of a meaningful shift from that position. On Thursday, he said in an interview with Fox News that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “was fighting a much bigger entity,” and that “he shouldn’t have done that, because we could have made a deal.”
He said little new about NATO or Europe, only reiterating his latest demand for European allies to pay 5% of their GDP toward defense — more than twice the NATO recommendation — and lamenting how much more Washington has spent than Brussels toward supporting Ukraine’s defense.
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