US general says NATO could seize Russia's Kaliningrad with 'unheard of' speed
NATO forces could capture Russia's heavily fortified Kaliningrad Oblast "in a timeframe that is unheard of" if necessary, U.S. Army Europe and Africa commander General Chris Donahue said, Defense News reported on July 17.
Kaliningrad Oblast, wedged between Poland and Lithuania, is surrounded by NATO territory and spans just 75 kilometers (47 miles) across. Donahue said allied capabilities now allow them to "take that down from the ground" faster than ever before.
His remarks come amid heightened tensions between NATO and Russia and the implementation of a new allied strategy known as the "Eastern Flank Deterrence Line."
The initiative focuses on bolstering land forces, integrating defense production, and deploying standardized digital systems and launch platforms for rapid battlefield coordination.
"The land domain is not becoming less important, it's becoming more important," Donahue said. "You can now take down anti-access, area-denial bubbles from the ground. You can now take over sea from the ground. All of those things we are watching happen in Ukraine."
Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, head of the Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee, warned that any attack on Kaliningrad would trigger retaliatory measures.
"An attack on the Kaliningrad region is tantamount to an attack on Russia," Slutsky said, according to Russian state-owned TASS news agency. "With all the corresponding retaliatory measures, including the use of nuclear weapons."
Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave with no direct land link to Russia, is among the most militarized regions in Europe and is considered a flashpoint in NATO-Russia tensions.
NATO's new posture follows repeated warnings from Western intelligence that Russia could pose a military threat to alliance members within the next five years.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly cautioned that unchecked Russian aggression in Ukraine could eventually escalate into a direct assault on NATO territory.
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