Nato Warning

Russia could launch a limited attack on a Nato country within months, Denmark's intelligence service has warned.

Thomas Ahrenkiel, the service's director, told a press conference there is "a low but growing risk" Russia would strike a Nato member on its border, the Independent reported. Such attacks could include long-range drone or missile strikes on infrastructure that supports Ukraine, or a small deployment of unmarked troops into a border area, according to the Guardian.

Hours later, fire tore through a Starlink satellite station in central Poland. Polish officials called it an act of sabotage, the Guardian reported. Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said the blaze was designed to knock the station offline and cut internet access for institutions including Ukraine's military. Signs pointed toward Russia's usual approach, Gawkowski said. No formal blame, though.

Nato fighter jets scrambled over Poland and Romania this week, ABC News reported, after Russia fired 161 drones and an unknown number of cruise missiles at Ukraine overnight. Polish jets flew for about an hour. No airspace violations were recorded. In Kyiv, the strikes killed two people and injured 41, the city's mayor said.

Denmark has had its own brush with Moscow too. The country summoned Russia's ambassador after a Russian warship fired flares at a Danish military helicopter over the Baltic Sea, NBC News reported.

Denmark's intelligence service expects Russia to widen its sabotage and cyberattacks against Europe in the months ahead, with what it called "greater consequences" for targeted countries, the Guardian reported. A person familiar with Moscow's thinking told the paper that Russian military leaders believe Nato is already waging a covert war against Russia by helping guide Ukrainian missiles and drones, and that Moscow has a right to respond.

Denmark's report, issued Thursday, said an outright invasion of a Nato country remains "highly unlikely" but cannot be ruled out. It said Russia's real target is not territory, but Nato's unity.

"The aim is not to take over the country, but to divide Nato," Ahrenkiel said.