German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul warned on Tuesday that new intelligence assessments show Moscow is preparing for the possibility of a future attack on a NATO member. It is the third time this month that senior German officials have raised the alarm about a possible confrontation with Russia in the next four years.
“Putin is watching the EU and NATO. Our intelligence services are issuing urgent warnings: Russia is at least creating the possibility for itself to wage war against NATO by 2029. We must deter further Russian aggression, together with our partners and allies,” the spokesperson said. official statement from the German Foreign Ministry X stated.
“These divisions have undoubtedly set their sights on us, on the European Union, on NATO. Russia’s threat to our country is no longer a distant concern; it is already a reality,” he said.
‘PUTIN PUSHING THE BORDERS’: EASTERN ALLIES WARN TRUMP NOT TO WITHDRAW US Troops
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul warned: “Our intelligence services tell us urgently that Russia is at least creating the possibility of a war against NATO by 2029 at the latest.” Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua via Getty Images (Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Breedlove noted that many observers have forgotten Russia’s first signals before the full-scale invasion. “At the beginning of this large-scale invasion phase, Russia gave us two documents. They call them treaties. We never recognized them. We kept calling them documents… Essentially, Mr. Putin said, ‘Sign this, otherwise there will be other means…’ And we didn’t sign them. And we learned what ‘or else’ meant. And he plunged into Ukraine for the third time. The first time was in Crimea. The second time was in the Donbas, and now the third time in multiple axes.”
Breedlove said Putin’s ambitions extend far beyond Ukraine. “If you read those two documents, if you have actually read them, and I have done that several times, his intention for all of Eastern Europe is… he is going to reshuffle the security architecture of Eastern Europe into a Cold War status where he controls all these buffer countries and has this buffer between him and NATO.”
Putin warns that Western troops in Ukraine would be ‘legitimate targets’
Russian soldiers ride on a truck during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade on Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. General Breedlove warned that Putin will have to face the consequences of huge wartime losses: “The conservative estimates are 1.1 to 1.5 million people.” (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky) (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
Asked whether Russia might be prepared to take such a step within five years, Breedlove said it would depend on how quickly Moscow can rebuild its degraded forces. “Ukraine has crushed its army, its army west of the Urals is deeply damaged… Is he able to rebuild this army? Is he able to maintain the loyalty of the Russian people, who will soon learn that their sons and husbands will not come home?”
He warned that Putin will have to deal with the consequences of huge wartime losses. “The conservative estimates are 1.1 to 1.5 million people… During the first part of this war, more than eleven years ago, when people did not come home, the mothers of Moscow stood up. And I think Mr. Putin will still have to face that.”
The German Foreign Minister’s warning follows separate comments from German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that a war between Russia and NATO “could start in 2029”, and that some analysts believe it could happen as early as 2028. reported by Meduza.
Top military commanders have issued similar assessments. Lieutenant General Alexander Sollfrank, head of the German Joint Operations Command, told Reuters that Russia could launch into NATO territory “at any time.” He added that a larger attack could be possible by 2029 if rearmament continues.
TRUMP ‘DRAMATICALLY’ CHANGES UKRAINE’S TUNE, BUT EXPERTS BEWARE: Putin still waiting for action
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov at the Black Sea Fleet naval base on September 23, 2014 in Novorossiysk, Russia. Putin makes a one-day visit to the new Russian military naval base of the Black Sea Fleet in Novorossiysk. (Photo by Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images)
The warnings come as the United States moves forward with a proposed peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will not meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky until the deal is complete or in its final stages.
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Ukrainian soldiers from the 44th Artillery Brigade fire a 2s22 Bohdana self-propelled howitzer at Russian frontline positions in the Zaporizhia region, Ukraine, Wednesday, August 20, 2025. ((AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk))
Negotiations continued despite a major overnight Russian attack on Kiev that killed at least seven people and damaged electricity infrastructure.
