A warning about energy and Belarus that NATO should take very seriously

The Ukrainian president is showing more common sense and analytical skills than many European leaders.

Sánchez continues to finance Putin's war with Russia as the second gas supplier
Sánchez promises Ukraine aid much less than the amount of its purchase of Russian gas

Today, Volodymyr Zelensky posted a long thread on Twitter in which he made many interesting observations, following his speech at the Munich Security Conference. Some of these observations should be taken into serious consideration by NATO member countries. For example, this one:

"The night before Munich, a Russian attack drone struck the sarcophagus covering the ruined fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. A Shahed drone, modified by Russia with Iranian technology, carrying at least 50kg of explosives.

We see this as a deeply symbolic move by Russia. Just recently, in Ukraine, we discussed nuclear energy as a crucial factor in energy security, despite Russia’s constant attacks. We are preparing to expand the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant with involvement from American businesses, including Westinghouse. This will strengthen not just Ukraine’s energy security, but all of Europe’s.

We also discussed Zaporizhzhia NPP with President Trump and his team—Europe’s largest nuclear plant, currently occupied by Russia. And Russia’s response? A drone strike on Chernobyl’s sarcophagus, which holds radioactive dust and debris.

This isn’t just madness. This is Russia’s stance. A country launching such attacks does not want peace. It is not preparing for dialogue. Almost every day, Russia sends up to 100 Shahed drones, along with ballistic missile strikes and an increasing number of aerial bomb attacks. But that’s not all.

This year, Moscow plans to create 15 new divisions—150,000 troops. That’s more than the entire armies of most European countries. Russia is opening new military recruitment centers weekly. And Putin can afford it—oil prices remain high enough for him to ignore the world.

We have clear intel: this summer, Russia plans to send troops to Belarus, under the pretext of “training exercises.” That’s exactly how they staged forces before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Is this Russian force meant to attack Ukraine? Maybe. Or maybe—it’s meant for you.

Let’s not forget: Belarus borders three NATO countries. It has become a Russian military foothold. Putin and Lukashenko admit that Belarus now hosts banned weapons—medium-range missiles and even nuclear arms. Putin sees Belarus as another Russian province.

If someone is setting up a military launchpad—what should we do about it? More importantly—what can we do before the next attack? There have already been provocations on Polish and Lithuanian borders, using migrant crises staged by Russian intelligence to stir up chaos. But what if next time, it’s not migrants? What if it’s Russian or North Korean troops?"

We must remember that right now, the only European countries that are taking their defense against the Russian threat seriously are Poland (which is carrying out a rearmament unprecedented in its modern history), Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. All of these are countries that have the misfortune of sharing borders with Russia.

Meanwhile, other European countries, including Spain, continue to maintain a ridiculous investment in defense, far below the commitments made to the Atlantic Alliance in that regard. To top it all off, Pedro Sánchez continues to buy gas from Russia, thus financing its aggression against Ukraine and perhaps its possible future aggressions against other countries, and at the same time.

In relation to what Zelensky points out about energy, Sanchez has not only decided to close all of Spain's nuclear power plants for ideological reasons (unless there are other real reasons that he has not told us), while prohibiting the extraction of natural gas in Spain, under a pact signed in 2021 between his Socialist Party and the communists of Podemos (Putin's puppets in Spain). According to the Higher Council of Colleges of Mining Engineers, the Spanish subsoil could supply natural gas for 40 years, but Sánchez prefers to buy it from Putin.

This is not helping to defend Europe: it is undermining it.

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Photo: Reuters.