Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Europe Is Starting to Think Putin Will Expand the War Beyond Ukraine
The Wall Street Journal ^ | May 27, 2026 | Yaroslav Trofimov

Posted on 05/27/2026 7:45:47 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican

Russia is stuck on the Ukrainian battlefield and lashing out with massive strikes on Kyiv. The growing fear in European capitals is that President Vladimir Putin will try next to reshuffle the cards by expanding the conflict to Europe.

In recent weeks, Russia has made increasingly bellicose statements against the Baltic states. It has threatened to bomb “decision-making centers” in Latvia after accusing the country of hosting Ukrainian drone operators, an allegation denied by the Latvian authorities. Air-raid alarms were sounded in Lithuania last week, forcing the government into a bunker, after suspected Russian drones approached its airspace from Belarus.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has also published the addresses of companies allegedly working on drone production with Ukraine in eight European nations, warning of “unpredictable consequences” and “sharp escalation” if military assistance to Kyiv doesn’t cease.

While fears that Russia could expand the conflict to Europe aren’t new, recent developments have made them more urgent. Several European national-security officials have warned that Russia could try to test the cohesion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization by targeting one of the Baltic nations, Swedish and Danish islands in the Baltic Sea or alliance territory in the Arctic.

“The security environment in Europe has deteriorated during the last 24 months, and we see a greater inclination from the Russian side to take greater operational risks in their hybrid operations, moving up also to kinetic elements,” Sweden’s Defense Minister Pål Jonson said in an interview. “We are cognizant that we need to be focused on strengthening our ability to deter and defend against the Russians.”

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; European Union; Ukraine
KEYWORDS: 20yearsinafghanistan; 30percent; absurdzeeping; adoorknob; balticstates; delusionalzeepers; delusionalzeeping; donationkiller; dronesinlatvia; enduringfreedom; frdonationkiller; frdonationkilller; gatorclown; gaytorious; grainpower; hethreatensto; killingfrdonations; latvia; lithuania; pepelepeu15; proxywar; russianimperialism; texasthong; thonggator; toiletpapertiger; ukraine; wallstreeturinal; welfarewar; zeeperporn
Message from Jim Robinson:

Dear FRiends,

We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.

If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you,

Jim


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-139 next last

1 posted on 05/27/2026 7:45:47 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican

1) Russia is stuck on the battlefield. Doing poorly. Incapable of beating little Ukraine.
2) Russia will invade Western Europe and may reach Paris by Christmas.

Am I supposed to believe both of these things?


2 posted on 05/27/2026 7:48:07 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy
1) Russia is stuck on the battlefield. Doing poorly. Incapable of beating little Ukraine.

2) Russia will invade Western Europe and may reach Paris by Christmas.

Am I supposed to believe both of these things?

I would expect not, since nobody has actually said 2) except for you.

3 posted on 05/27/2026 7:50:19 AM PDT by Bruce Campbells Chin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

This concern about Putin invading the Baltic states has been going on for a long time I recall hearing for the past couple of years that NATO has been installing anti-tank traps and so forth because of a very real fear that Putin was going to invade there.

To us it sounds crazy but then being bogged down in Ukraine for the last 4 years is just as crazy.


4 posted on 05/27/2026 7:50:27 AM PDT by Williams (Thank God for the election of President Trump!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican

He’ll try his luck attacking Monaco next!


5 posted on 05/27/2026 7:51:46 AM PDT by Bob434 (Time flies like an arrow, Fruit flies like a banana)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican
They have helped to make their fears become a possibility, however, I still doubt that will be the case at all. Russia, really doe not have the capability to do so, and Ukraine proves it.

The reality is, that Islam is destroying Europe from within, and Putin realizes this, and therefore has no need to move across Europe. That s how stupid Europe has become, they lack critical thinking skills. They realize how bakript they are, not only financially, but morally as well.

6 posted on 05/27/2026 7:55:54 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican

Riiiiight.

Pootie wants the economic nightmare that is the EU.

I smell another scam to beggar taxpayers coming on.

Note to Europe....

Psssst, the call is coming from INSIDE the house!


7 posted on 05/27/2026 7:56:44 AM PDT by mewzilla (Swing away, Mr. President, swing away! 🇺🇸 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bruce Campbells Chin
I would expect not, since nobody has actually said 2) except for you.

Vladimir Solovyov's bloviating has been hilarious. Reminds me of the people who spent the first two years of the war quoting MacGregor's "two weeks!"

On targeting Europe and the UK: "We will kill you all. If necessary, we will go to Paris and sail on boats over what was once Britain".

They can't even sail across the Black Sea anymore.

Sad.

8 posted on 05/27/2026 7:57:33 AM PDT by Gunslingr3
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Robert DeLong

“The reality is, that Islam is destroying Europe from within, and Putin realizes this, and therefore has no need to move across Europe.”

The reality is, that Islam is destroying Russia from within, and Putin realizes this, and therefore has no need to move across Europe.


9 posted on 05/27/2026 7:58:33 AM PDT by TexasGator (11&1)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Bruce Campbells Chin; ClearCase_guy
Bruce Cambells Ass: " I would expect not, since nobody has actually said 2) except for you.

No need to guess - you can do a simple Google Search and see that the likes of Ursula von der Leyen, Mark Rutte, Anne Keast-Butler, and others have all made such statements that Russia may invade Western Europe. It's been a constant theme of EU leadership for the last 4 years.

10 posted on 05/27/2026 7:58:41 AM PDT by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Gunslingr3

Vladimir Solovyov’s bloviating has been hilarious.


There’s a clip of him back from around 2012, when Zelenskyy was still a fixture on Russian Television, where he’s smiling away at him.


11 posted on 05/27/2026 8:02:24 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican

So when Russia goes to settle its border and political disputes with Latvia, Lithuinaia, Poland now members of the newly expanded NATO, young men from Kansas will be sent there to fight, die and settle the dispute?


12 posted on 05/27/2026 8:03:22 AM PDT by allendale
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican

So when Russia goes to settle its border and political disputes with Latvia, Lithuinaia, Poland now members of the newly expanded NATO, young men from Kansas will be sent there to fight, die and settle the dispute?


13 posted on 05/27/2026 8:03:35 AM PDT by allendale
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican

So when Russia goes to settle its border and political disputes with Latvia, Lithuinaia, Poland now members of the newly expanded NATO, young men from Kansas will be sent there to fight, die and settle the dispute?


14 posted on 05/27/2026 8:03:36 AM PDT by allendale
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican

Given Ukrainian drone attacks being launched into Russia from the Baltics, and the discovery of NATO mines attached to the hull of a Russian gas tanker discovered after it left Antwerp ( all according to Russian public statements)..the Ukraine war is already spread into Europe


15 posted on 05/27/2026 8:04:27 AM PDT by silverleaf (“Inside Every Progressive Is A Totalitarian Screaming To Get Out” —David Horowitz)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy
Incapable of beating little Ukraine.

More than four years on, it still hasn't beaten Ukraine.

In first 3 weeks of May, Ukrainian drone operators counted 19,200 Russian soldiers killed or wounded by drones.

A limited op against the Baltics would test NATO's resolve: not a full scale invasion, but just a few kilometers in the hope the US backs out and Germany and Poland hesitate. The point is to get Europe to stop backing Ukraine.

I don't think that would work for two reasons. First, the eastern states are tired of Russia's threats and see the war in Ukraine as disabling Russia's ability to launch a large attack against them. Second, an actual war would give the current entrenched globalist regimes a perfect excuse to suppress the AfD and other populist parties seen as pro-Russia.

16 posted on 05/27/2026 8:06:01 AM PDT by pierrem15 ("Massacrez-les, car le seigneur connait les siens" )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Bob434
He’ll try his luck attacking Monaco next!

Smart move

He will gain access to $Billions that Zelensky and spouse have Squirreled away there.

Also a few high level apartments...and a fleet of super-cars.

17 posted on 05/27/2026 8:06:32 AM PDT by spokeshave ( Angry Dads. Grumpy Grandads, Curmudgeons & old Geezers)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican

Euros would love a real Slavic Fraticide, and get the Poles involved in it.


18 posted on 05/27/2026 8:07:02 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: allendale

This is the response when people ask how Russia is supposed to find success in Poland and the Baltics when they can’t get through half of Ukraine?

Boys from Kansas?????

Deflection much?


19 posted on 05/27/2026 8:07:19 AM PDT by z3n (Kakistocracy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

1) Russia is stuck on the battlefield. Doing poorly. Incapable of beating little Ukraine.
2) Russia will invade Western Europe and may reach Paris by Christmas.

Am I supposed to believe both of these things?

- - - - - - -

No.


20 posted on 05/27/2026 8:08:38 AM PDT by TTFX
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-139 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson