this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2026
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27
Nato would defeat Russia quickly if ‘we took our gloves off’, says Poland (www.independent.co.uk)
submitted 3 hours ago by tardigrade@scribe.disroot.org to c/europe@feddit.org
6 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

...

Polish Foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorksi said a victory against Vladimir Putin’s forces would be swift due to the “overwhelming superiority” of its air forces, even without support from the United States.

“If Russia attacked us and we took our gloves off, I think we would defeat Russia quite quickly. We have overwhelming superiority over Russia in air power. General, correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s something like 2,500 aircraft,” he said during a discussion at the Yalta European Strategy meeting in Kyiv on Saturday.

“Even without the US it’s still overwhelming, and I haven’t checked recently how many F-35s and JASSMs and all the deep-strike capabilities we have.”

...

He went further to say that Poland could knock out half of Russia’s refining capacity in a matter of weeks. The comments were in relation to a potential conflict between Russia and Nato and not about the prospect of a direct war between Russia and Poland.

“But if the Ukrainians have knocked out half of Russia’s refining capacity in six months, we could do it in six weeks and take out the other half,” he continued.

Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused Sikorski of “Russophobia of the brain” in discussing the conflict.

Speculation has abounded that Moscow is plotting to attack Nato, claims that the country has denied.

...

Last month CIA director John Ratcliffe made a short trip to Moscow - the last time that a CIA chief visited the country personally was in the weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Several sources familiar with the discussions told CBS News that Ratcliffe had made the visit to warn Russia against an attack on Nato.

...

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[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 9 points 1 hour ago

Clickbait title again! 😡

"If Russia attacked us and we took our gloves off, I think we would defeat Russia quite quickly."

Yes, agreed. There isn't even any bluster in that statement. And I think NATO agrees that this option isn't off the table.

But a cornered animal will do weird pointless self-destructive things, and it's possible it still has one or two functioning nukes...

[–] Waterpumpee@lemmus.org 6 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

The problem isnt defeating russia or pushing it back. It it doing so while not triggering a nuclear response. So salami tactics it is. Currently russia loses entire generations on foreign battlefield. Signs of internal collapse are there.

I just feel like we should investigate russias sponsors like china and stop or threaten to stop trade with them plus finance their antagonists like pakistan (eww) or taiwan or whatever group gives them trouble.

[–] Cypher@aussie.zone 3 points 1 hour ago

No one can put the brakes on China without going into an immediate recession. The cost of ceasing trade with China will be catastrophic for both parties and trigger a war.

[–] freshfusion@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 hours ago

In war you can have all the advantages you can think about and still lose. Overconfidence about military supremacy has a huge cost if the war proceeds.

Germany in WW1 entered it avoiding attempts at deescalation, because it was overconfident it would overwhelm France and Russia. Both France and later USA had to withdraw from Vietnam. For recent example Russo-Ukranian war had Russia at clear advantage in manpower and industry, but we know now in retrospect, that it was not a couple of week pacification campaign as even myself was convinced it would be.

I guess that statement was likely a diplomatic posturing, but keep in mind that military conflicts very rarely go according to plan. The only certain thing that happens is human suffering inherent to military conflicts.

[–] lokalhorst@feddit.org 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

“But if the Ukrainians have knocked out half of Russia’s refining capacity in six months, we could do it in six weeks and take out the other half,” he continued.

Yeah because you have the drone production capacity and knowledge Ukraine has, right? Then why do you use Jets to defend drones at the EU border?

This guy is getting nervous, and that's exactly what Putin wants. He wants to spread insecurity about supporting the Ukraine. Doubt Russia has the illusion of "defeating Europe", that is ridiculous if we look on how they are doing on the battle field in Ukraine.

[–] steel_for_humans@piefed.social 1 points 1 minute ago

He wasn't talking about using drones. It was in context of a full scale conflict using fighter jets and bombers. And he was not referring to Poland, either, but to NATO.