Russia has issued a stark warning that it would obliterate the capital of a NATO nation if provoked, as tensions across Europe reach boiling point. Nikolai Patrushev, a senior adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, warned that Warsaw, Poland would be destroyed if hostilities with NATO commenced.

“If Poland enters into military action against Russia, our country will use the entire arsenal of forces and means at its disposal, and Warsaw will cease to exist within two or three days,” Patrushev told Russian news outlet Argumenty i Fakty.

His warning follows remarks by Polish Foreign Minister Radosaw Sikorski, who suggested NATO could “quite quickly” prevail over Russia if Moscow launched an assault. Poland became a NATO member in 1999.

NATO, comprising 32 nations, was established in 1949 to counter potential Soviet aggression.

The alliance now centres on defending member states through its principle that an attack against one is deemed an attack against all.

Addressing the annual Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv, Sikorski stated: “If Russia attacked us and we took our gloves off, I think we would defeat Russia quite quickly.”

He highlighted NATO’s dominant air superiority over Russia and referenced the alliance’s fleet of 2,500 military aircraft. Patrushev dismissed Sikorski’s remarks as an “amateurish assessment of our country’s military might.”

He further claimed that Russia was not deploying “their full potential” in the ongoing conflict with Ukraine. Nevertheless, Patrushev repeated Moscow’s assurances that his superior has no desire to wage war against Europe, according to Metro.

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