Russia’s armed forces are bruised but by no means beaten in the war in Ukraine, a top NATO military officer said on Monday, as he laid out the biggest revamp to the organisation’s military plans since the Cold War should Moscow dare to widen the conflict.
“They might not be 11 feet tall, but they are certainly not 2 feet tall,” the Chair of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, told reporters. “So, we should never underestimate the Russians and their ability to bounce back.”
US President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts are set to endorse a major shakeup of the alliance’s planning system at a summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius next week.
NATO, as an organisation, does not provide weapons or ammunition to Ukraine. It’s sought to avoid being dragged into a wider war with nuclear-armed Russia.
At the same time, it is massively reinforcing the security of member countries near Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
