{"id":17940,"date":"2026-07-21T20:23:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/17940\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T20:23:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:23:30","slug":"russia-could-move-on-poland-or-the-baltics-natos-top-general-warns-and-the-alliance-says-its-ready-to-make-it-hurt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/17940\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia Could Move on Poland or the Baltics, NATO’s Top General Warns \u2014 and the Alliance Says It’s Ready to Make It Hurt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Will Russia Go Further? Russia continues to escalate its missile strike campaign against Ukraine, killing at least 10 <\/a>people in attacks overnight into Monday, July 20. This time, the strikes centered on the Black Sea port of Odesa<\/a> and included a deadly strike on a civilian cargo ship carrying Ukrainian grain. The attacks came a day after Russia carried out one of its largest ballistic missile barrages of the war against Kyiv. The strikes also suggest that Moscow still believes that the best way to respond to Ukraine\u2019s crippling strikes against its energy and oil infrastructure is to respond in kind \u2013 at least, for now.\n<\/p>\n

Russia Hits Grain Ship and Odesa Overnight
\n\"Challenger<\/p>\n

Challenger 3 On the March. Image Credit: Creative Commons.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A British Army Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (MBT) lays down a smoke screen during Spring Storm 19, Estonia\u2019s largest annual military exercise. Roughly 9,000 soldiers from Estonia, other NATO Allies and partner nations have gathered near the town of J\u00f5hvi to engage in a collective defence exercise, strengthening their ability to work together in times of crisis.<\/p>\n

The deadliest of the overnight attacks<\/a> took place near Ukraine\u2019s largest seaport, where Russia struck the Guinea-Bissau-flagged cargo ship Golden Leo with three cruise missiles as it transported corn from Odesa. Ukraine\u2019s Navy said the vessel, crewed by sailors from India and Syria, caught fire after the missiles struck on Sunday evening.\n<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian Seaports Authority said that a search and rescue operation<\/a> continued throughout the night, before rescuers recovered nine crew members and one Ukrainian pilot who had been killed. Eight of the vessel\u2019s 17 crew members reportedly survived the attack.\n<\/p>\n

The attack on the Golden Leo<\/a>, owned by Mumbai\u2019s Ocean Grace Shipping Ltd., is the deadliest attack on a commercial ship during the most recent escalation in the Black Sea, where both Ukraine and Russia are targeting maritime infrastructure. The attack follows Ukrainian assaults on Russian maritime assets and infrastructure supporting the export of Russian grain \u2013 just the latest assault on key revenues for Moscow<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Russia also launched a separate missile strike against Odesa itself early Monday, killing three civilians and injuring another three. Regional authorities said civilian infrastructure was damaged, while Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry later claimed its forces had struck fuel reservoirs at the Port of Odesa<\/a> during the overnight operation.\n<\/p>\n

One of the War\u2019s Largest Ballistic Barrages<\/p>\n

The overnight strikes<\/a> came less than 24 hours after Russia launched one of the largest ballistic missile attacks of the war against Kyiv. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia fired 41 missiles and 125 attack drones<\/a>, including 25 Iskander-M<\/a> and S-400 ballistic missiles<\/a>, 10 Zircon hypersonic missiles, three Oniks anti-ship missiles, and three Kh-59\/69 guided missiles. Ukrainian air defenses also intercepted 18 missiles and 108 drones, but several ballistic missiles penetrated defenses and struck the capital \u2013 largely a result of Kyiv\u2019s well-documented interceptor shortage.\n<\/p>\n

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Russia is now deliberately concentrating ballistic missiles at Kyiv because they are Ukraine\u2019s most difficult threat to intercept.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cA large number of ballistic missiles were used \u2013 today was one of the largest ballistic missile attacks. Kyiv<\/a> and the region were the Russians\u2019 primary target. They had been preparing this attack for several days, stockpiling missiles. The threat, of course, remains even now, and this must be taken into account. Russia is placing its wagers on ballistic missiles, and it is because of them that Putin still believes in his war,\u201d Zelenskyy said in a statement.\u00a0<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

In response to the attacks, the Ukrainian president once again called on his allies in the West to speed up the pace of deliveries of interceptors that would reduce the impact of Russia\u2019s escalating ballistic missile campaign.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very important that our partners understand what is happening and that air defense missiles are needed to protect lives literally every single day. I very much expect Ukraine\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other government officials at all levels to promptly engage with our partners regarding the packages we have already agreed on. It is important to accelerate everything \u2013 both with our European partners and with the United States. The result is needed every day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Challenger<\/p>\n

Challenger 2 Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.<\/p>\n

Will Russia Go Further?<\/p>\n

For now, Russia<\/a> appears set on exploiting Ukraine\u2019s biggest vulnerability: its shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles. The growing concentration of Iskander ballistic missiles in the most recent attacks suggests Moscow believes it can achieve greater results by targeting a weakness that Kyiv has repeatedly warned its allies about \u2013 but if Western deliveries of new interceptors accelerate, that advantage will begin to disappear.\n<\/p>\n

That possibly helps explain why NATO is discussing scenarios<\/a> in which Russia extends the war beyond Ukraine. In an interview published over the weekend, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, Chair of NATO\u2019s Military Committee and the alliance\u2019s highest-ranking military officer, said repeated warnings from Western intelligence agencies about possible Russian operations against Poland or the Baltic states should be taken seriously.\n<\/p>\n

\u201c It is realistic to the point where we define Russia as a threat. It is a threat because Russia could make this kind of move. But again, it\u2019s something we need to be prepared for, and we need to be prepared to give them much more damage than the advantage they could get from this kind of decision.\u00a0 And we are doing it. I mean, today they would lose a lot, much more than what they could gain just by touching Poland or the Baltic states. And we are ready,\u201d Dragone said.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

It is unclear exactly what Russia intends to do next, and there has been no direct suggestion that Moscow is preparing an imminent attack on NATO territory. But as Ukraine\u2019s long-range strikes raise the economic cost of the war inside Russia, NATO appears to be intent on ensuring that, should Moscow look beyond Ukraine to regain the initiative, it faces a level of deterrence that ensures Putin does not make a miscalculation.\n<\/p>\n

About the Author: Jack Buckby\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jack Buckby<\/a> is a British researcher and analyst specializing in defense and national security, based in New York. His work focuses on military capability, procurement, and strategic competition, producing and editing analysis for policy and defense audiences. He brings extensive editorial experience, with a career output spanning over 1,000 articles at 19FortyFive and National Security Journal, and has previously authored books and papers on extremism and deradicalization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will Russia Go Further? Russia continues to escalate its missile strike campaign against Ukraine, killing at least 10…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8373,452,74,456,323,9,2083,126,127,331],"class_list":["post-17940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-poland","tag-aerospace","tag-drones","tag-europe","tag-missiles","tag-nato","tag-poland","tag-putin","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}