Amid growing tensions, Russia has accused Europe and NATO of waging war. The Kremlin recently warned of retaliation if NATO shoots down its jets, following accusations of repeated airspace violations in Estonia and Poland.

Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna called a recent incident “unprecedentedly brazen,” after three Russian MiG-31s allegedly crossed into Estonian airspace for 12 minutes. He said: “Russia has violated Estonian airspace four times already this year, which is unacceptable in itself, but today’s violation…is unprecedentedly brazen.” Moscow denied this, claiming the jets were in Baltic waters.

Escalating rhetoric continued when Putin ally Vladimir Solovyov suggested nuking Oxford and Cambridge. He argued that “not using [nuclear weapons] and condemning your people and the world to a major war is an even greater sin.”

On September 25, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declared: “[They] have already declared a real war on my country,” accusing NATO and the EU of provoking the Ukraine crisis. He warned of “regional conflicts” and “global instability” if the UN charter is ignored.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump voiced strong support for Ukraine, saying: “Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act…Russia…is very much making them look like a paper tiger.”

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