War in Europe

Councillor Putin: ‘If Poland attacks us, it will be wiped out in 2–3 days’

Nikolay Patrushev, an adviser to the Russian President, has responded to statements made by the Polish Foreign Minister to the effect that, in a military conflict, Poland would defeat Russia

15 September 2026

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Il presidente della Lituania Gitanas Nauseda parla con i giornalisti al suo arrivo al centro scientifico Arktikum in occasione del Vertice europeo sull’Artico, a Rovaniemi, in Finlandia, il 14 settembre 2026. Lehtikuva/Jouni Porsanger via REUTERS via REUTERS

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

If Poland were to go to war with Russia, Moscow ‘would deploy its entire arsenal of available forces and resources, and the Polish state would cease to exist within two or three days’. This was stated by Nikolay Patrushev, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview with the website of the newspaper Argumenty i Fakty, as reported by TASS. Patrushev cited statements by the Polish Foreign Minister, Radosław Sikorski, according to which Poland would defeat Russia in a military conflict. According to Putin’s adviser, Sikorski’s assessment of Russian military power is ‘amateurish’.

Italian NATO fighter jets shoot down Russian drone over Lithuania

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has announced that Italian NATO fighter jets shot down a drone in Lithuanian airspace. The drone crashed in a rural area near Lake Kaunas, in the central part of the country, which, along with the other Baltic states, regularly experiences drone intrusions into its territory.

The first instance of a foreign drone being shot down in the skies over a Baltic state since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine occurred on 19 May, when a NATO fighter jet shot down a Ukrainian drone over Estonia. According to European sources, Moscow is deliberately diverting Ukrainian drones – which are intended to strike industrial plants and oil terminals in the St Petersburg region, situated on the Gulf of Finland – off their intended course.

Russian frigate fires two flares and narrowly misses a Danish helicopter

Another incident of tension between Russia and Europe involves a Russian frigate that fired two signal rockets at a Danish military helicopter in international waters off the coast of Denmark. The flares, according to a statement from the Danish Armed Forces quoted by the Copenhagen Post, narrowly missed the aircraft. The helicopter was carrying out a routine mission to photograph the Russian vessel, the Danish Defence Command reported. Copenhagen will summon the Russian ambassador to discuss the incident, Defence Minister Jeppe Bruus announced separately to broadcaster TV2.

Ucraina, 1655° giorno di guerra
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Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian logistics and ports

Meanwhile, drone attacks are also continuing in Ukraine. The Russian Ministry of Defence has reported that, overnight, the Russian military struck a number of Ukrainian logistics centres and ports, as well as naval vessels used by the Ukrainian armed forces. Russian drone raids have also been reported in the Ukrainian capital, where one person was seriously injured.

“Last night, the Russian armed forces carried out coordinated attacks using unmanned aerial vehicles against logistics centres and ports in Ukraine, as well as against naval vessels operating on behalf of the Ukrainian armed forces,” reads a statement from the ministry. According to Moscow, Russian forces damaged a logistics centre in Velyka Balka, in the Odessa region, which was receiving military supplies from abroad destined for Ukraine, and struck a cargo ship and a ferry carrying materials for the army in the port of Chernomorsk. “Attacks continued in the western regions of Ukraine against railway infrastructure used to transport military cargo from European countries,” the ministry added.

In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko has reported that Russian forces have struck a petrol station. “In the Darnytskyi district, emergency services have admitted one injured person to hospital. The man is in a serious condition,” said Klitschko. According to initial reports, several warehouses in the Obolonskyi district were also hit.

Ukrainian raids on Russian refineries

Ukrainian forces, too, continue to strike deep into Russian territory. Overnight, air strikes launched from Kyiv reportedly hit the Syzran oil refinery in the Russian region of Samara and several targets in Taganrog, in the Rostov region. The governor of the Samara region, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, subsequently reported that over 40 Ukrainian drones had been shot down within the region. An industrial site was damaged and the windows of several residential buildings were shattered. In Taganrog, in southern Russia, a Ukrainian missile strike damaged a warehouse belonging to the major Russian online retailer Ozon, according to the governor of the Rostov region, Yury Slyusar.

In the Belgorod region, meanwhile, two people have been killed and three injured in the last 24 hours following attacks by the Ukrainian armed forces. This was reported today by the acting governor, Alexander Shuvaev. “A civilian was killed during a targeted attack by the Ukrainian armed forces in the Graivoronsky district. Furthermore, a woman who had sustained serious injuries in the Borisovsky district on 4 September died in hospital,” Shuvaev wrote on the Max platform.

Zelensky: ready to take de-escalation measures if Russia does the same

In this context, however, attempts to initiate a peace dialogue between Ukraine and Russia continue. The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has stated that Kyiv is prepared to take ‘de-escalation measures’ if Russia does the same, without, however, confirming Donald Trump’s claim that there is an agreement between Moscow and Kyiv not to target energy infrastructure. ‘If our American partners manage to ensure that Russia demonstrates a genuine willingness to end this war that is destroying human lives, and to do so sincerely and permanently, Ukraine will take its own de-escalation measures,’ Zelensky said in his daily address broadcast on social media.