Intelligence reports indicate that there is a "high risk" Russia is preparing troops for a possible invasion of NATO member states, President Volodymyr Zelensky told NBC News in an interview published Feb. 16.
Zelensky spoke to NBC on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, where he is leading a Ukrainian delegation in talks with European and U.S. leaders on the current state of the war as it approaches its third-year anniversary.
Russia is training 150,000 troops in Belarus for a large-scale operation that could happen as early as this summer, Zelensky said. The preparations could signal a plan to invade a NATO country.
"There are risks that this can be Poland and Lithuania, because we believe that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin will wage war against NATO," he said.
Ukraine has "intelligence" and "documents" regarding Russia's troop buildup in Belarus, but does not exactly know what Putin is planning to do, according to Zelensky. The president said Ukraine had shared these intelligence reports with allies.
Russia is "waiting for a weakening of NATO," Zelensky warned. He also said he believes Putin only wants a ceasefire in order to prepare greater numbers of troops for more ambitious future military actions.
"He is thinking not only about Ukraine," Zelensky said.
There is a "high risk" that Russia will set its sights on other countries, particularly those near Ukraine that are now NATO member states, he said.
At the outset of the Munich Security Conference, Zelensky said that Russia was training large numbers of soldiers in Belarus for a major military escalation. In his comments to NBC, he said that the move echoed the military exercises Russia staged ahead of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Two days before the conference began, a declassified Danish intelligence report warned that Russia may find the opportunity to launch a large-scale war on Europe within five years, if Moscow "perceives NATO as militarily weakened or politically divided."
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that such an attack would be "devastating" for Moscow.
"If Putin attacks NATO, the reaction will be devastating. He will lose," Rutte said.
The warnings come amid a dramatic shift in U.S. foreign policy towards Europe, NATO, and Russia. U.S. President Donald Trump has been critical of the alliance, sparking outrage last year when he said he would let Russia to do "whatever the hell they want" to NATO members failing to meet defense spending criteria.
Trump has also arranged to meet with Putin in Saudi Arabia for bilateral talks without representation from Ukraine or Europe. Ahead of any ceasefire negotiations with Russia, Trump has already signaled that he believes NATO membership for Ukraine is not "practical."
Asami Terajima
(Updated: )
