- NATO is creating land corridors in Europe for the US in case Russia attacks, The Telegraph reported.
- Under the plan, soldiers would land at ports in the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Turkey, and Norway.
- Soldiers would then travel overland to NATO’s eastern flank, per the outlet.
NATO is busy setting up land corridors that US soldiers and military vehicles would use in the case of a Russian invasion of Europe, The Telegraph reported, citing unnamed officials.
Under the plan, US soldiers would land at one of five key ports in the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Turkey, and Norway, before being sent along established routes to counter Russian attacks, the officials said.
While some US forces would be transported by land from Italian ports to Hungary, which borders Ukraine, others would be moved from Greek and Turkish ports to the eastern border of the alliance via Bulgaria and Romania.
Local legislation would not restrict militaries in these corridors, allowing them to move cargo without constraints, according to The Telegraph.
Plans are also being developed to move troops through ports in Sweden, Finland, and the Balkans, the outlet reported.
Under previous plans, US troops would have arrived in the Netherlands, and then boarded trains to travel through Germany and on to Poland, the outlet reported.
But contingencies are now being prepared to extend this, The Telegraph said.
And in the event that NATO forces were struck in Dutch ports or northern European ports were destroyed, the military alliance would refocus its attention on landing sites in Italy, Greece, and Turkey.
Last year, NATO leaders agreed to keep 300,000 soldiers in a state of high readiness, The Telegraph reported.
European nations have repeatedly warned of the risk of a possible Russian invasion.
Vaidotas Urbelis, the defense policy director of Lithuania’s defense ministry, told BI in February that despite its setbacks in Ukraine, Russia seemed to be better prepared for a future attack than it was before the invasion of Ukraine.
In March, Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, said there was a “real” threat of conflict in Europe and that the continent was in a “prewar” era.
Despite experts saying Russia has been weakened by the war in Ukraine, and is in no position to attack, some European countries aren’t taking any chances.
Poland unveiled a plan in May for new defenses along its borders, and the Baltic States said in March that they’re investing more in defense than ever.
Last week, the Financial Times reported that NATO had less than 5% of the air defenses needed to protect Central and Eastern Europe, citing people familiar with NATO’s defense plans.
But Alexander Sollfrank, the commander of NATO’s Joint Support and Enabling Command, told The Telegraph that everything required to create resilience is being worked out.
“Everything is created in a way so the necessary resilience exists — robustness, reserves and also redundancies,” he said.
“With regards to air defence… It’s always scarce,” he added. “I cannot imagine a situation that you have enough air defence.”