Russia has at its disposal all necessary means to destroy anyone who attempts to attack the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned today.

Putin was responding to a question about statements made earlier this month by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Boudris, who said NATO must show Moscow that it is capable of infiltrating Kaliningrad.

In response to another question about Russian intelligence reports that Ukraine has sent road operators to Latvia, the Russian president reiterated that any area that poses a threat to Russia is considered a legitimate target.

At the same time, however, Putin assured that Russia is ready to continue talks on a peaceful settlement of the war in Ukraine. He clarified that his earlier statements on 9 May that the war was nearing its end were based on an analysis of Russian gains on the battlefield.

However, the Russian president refused to present any specific timetable for the end of the war. He added that claims by Western countries that Moscow was preparing for war with Europe were “lies” because Russia “has never threatened and does not threaten European countries”. He also stressed that Western media should be “ashamed” of the way they covered the Ukrainian drone attack on a schoolchildren’s dormitory in the Luhansk region, which Russia says killed 21 people.

The drone that crashed in Galatsy was Russian, NATO says

From Astana, Kazakhstan, where he is visiting, Putin said earlier that “no one can say” where the drone that crashed today into an apartment building in Galati, Romania, came from “until it is examined by experts”, suggesting it could be Ukrainian.

He even commented that other Ukrainian roads have fallen in other countries recently.

However, Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE), assured that the drone that crashed into the building during an attack in neighbouring Ukraine was of Russian origin.

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US ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker condemned the “dangerous invasion” in a post on Platform X and pledged that the US “will defend every inch of NATO territory.”

The White House has not yet responded to a request for comment.

“Russia’s dangerous behaviour is a danger for all of us,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte commented for his part, after speaking by phone with Romanian President Nikosor Dan. The latter announced that the Russian consulate in the city of Constanta would be closed and the consul would be expelled from the country.