By DAVID AVERRE

Published: 11:00 BST, 4 June 2025 | Updated: 11:00 BST, 4 June 2025

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Europe's efforts to make ready its armed forces in anticipation of a major conflict with Moscow have broken new ground as the Russia-Ukraine war entered a new phase yesterday following a historic operation by Kyiv's security service. Ukraine on Sunday pulled off an unprecedented attack in which swarms of kamikaze drones emerged from strategically placed trucks to demolish dozens of military aircraft at four separate airbases across the Russian Federation.

Europe’s efforts to make ready its armed forces in anticipation of a major conflict with Moscow have broken new ground as the Russia-Ukraine war entered a new phase yesterday following a historic operation by Kyiv’s security service. Ukraine on Sunday pulled off an unprecedented attack in which swarms of kamikaze drones emerged from strategically placed trucks to demolish dozens of military aircraft at four separate airbases across the Russian Federation.

The breathtaking offensive, codenamed 'Operation Spiderweb' by Ukraine's SBU security service and personally overseen by President Volodymyr Zelensky - was so devastating that Russian military bloggers termed the operation 'Russia's Pearl Harbor'. Now, as a furious Vladimir Putin plots his response, European leaders and defence chiefs are working to ensure their militaries can meet any threat from Moscow head-on.

The breathtaking offensive, codenamed ‘Operation Spiderweb’ by Ukraine’s SBU security service and personally overseen by President Volodymyr Zelensky – was so devastating that Russian military bloggers termed the operation ‘Russia’s Pearl Harbor’. Now, as a furious Vladimir Putin plots his response, European leaders and defence chiefs are working to ensure their militaries can meet any threat from Moscow head-on. 

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer today vowed to make the UK 'battle-ready' while committing to building 12 new nuclear-powered submarines and at least six new munitions factories as part of the government's Strategic Defence Review. Elsewhere, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz last week declared that Berlin will finance the production of long-range missiles in Ukraine, shortly after pushing a ¿500 billion defence and infrastructure spending bill through parliament.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer today vowed to make the UK ‘battle-ready’ while committing to building 12 new nuclear-powered submarines and at least six new munitions factories as part of the government’s Strategic Defence Review. Elsewhere, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz last week declared that Berlin will finance the production of long-range missiles in Ukraine, shortly after pushing a €500 billion defence and infrastructure spending bill through parliament.

But nowhere is this drive for remilitarisation more apparent than Sweden's island of Gotland - a 1,000-square-mile tourist hotspot in the Baltic Sea undergoing a rapid transformation into a floating fortress and a key NATO military outpost. On a visit to Gotland late last month, Sweden's Chief of Defence Staff and Vice Supreme Commander Carl-Johan Edström told MailOnline about his vision for Gotland as a future NATO hub and first line of defence against Russian aggression.

But nowhere is this drive for remilitarisation more apparent than Sweden’s island of Gotland – a 1,000-square-mile tourist hotspot in the Baltic Sea undergoing a rapid transformation into a floating fortress and a key NATO military outpost. On a visit to Gotland late last month, Sweden’s Chief of Defence Staff and Vice Supreme Commander Carl-Johan Edström told MailOnline about his vision for Gotland as a future NATO hub and first line of defence against Russian aggression. 

He also warned that the transatlantic security alliance 'cannot take its eyes off Russia for the next 15 years' and said that Gotland must be ready to 'take a hit' from Moscow's forces and keep fighting. The importance of Gotland's position is hard to overstate. It sits just 120 miles from the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - all NATO members - and only 230 miles from Russia's heavily militarised Kaliningrad exclave.

He also warned that the transatlantic security alliance ‘cannot take its eyes off Russia for the next 15 years’ and said that Gotland must be ready to ‘take a hit’ from Moscow’s forces and keep fighting. The importance of Gotland’s position is hard to overstate. It sits just 120 miles from the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – all NATO members – and only 230 miles from Russia’s heavily militarised Kaliningrad exclave.

With Sweden now part of the transatlantic security alliance, Gotland offers allied nations an ideal base from which to surveil and deter Russian air and naval threats over the Baltic Sea, and - in wartime - provide air cover for NATO troops engaged in Europe while striking Russian-held positions. But after a near-total demilitarisation of the island prior to the Russia-Ukraine war, Sweden's military is in a race against time to reconstitute the island's fighting force and build the infrastructure required to support a major conflict.

With Sweden now part of the transatlantic security alliance, Gotland offers allied nations an ideal base from which to surveil and deter Russian air and naval threats over the Baltic Sea, and – in wartime – provide air cover for NATO troops engaged in Europe while striking Russian-held positions. But after a near-total demilitarisation of the island prior to the Russia-Ukraine war, Sweden’s military is in a race against time to reconstitute the island’s fighting force and build the infrastructure required to support a major conflict.

'Gotland is such an important island and territory for the defence and deterrence of the whole area of responsibility for NATO,' Lieutenant General Edström told MailOnline. 'I see one big role as being the hub for NATO logistics from the West to the East. The second role is to be a platform where you can project power to actually control the sea-level communications and also the airspace over the Baltic Sea to create our own A2/AD (anti-access and area denial) bubble. And the third one, (Gotland) would be a perfect place also to build up offensive capabilities needed for deep strike, for example, to defend NATO allies (from a Russian attack)'.

‘Gotland is such an important island and territory for the defence and deterrence of the whole area of responsibility for NATO,’ Lieutenant General Edström told MailOnline. ‘I see one big role as being the hub for NATO logistics from the West to the East. The second role is to be a platform where you can project power to actually control the sea-level communications and also the airspace over the Baltic Sea to create our own A2/AD (anti-access and area denial) bubble. And the third one, (Gotland) would be a perfect place also to build up offensive capabilities needed for deep strike, for example, to defend NATO allies (from a Russian attack)’.

Gotland's strategic value as both a logistics hub and a launchpad for strikes against Russian military assets in the event of an attack on Europe is not lost on other Western defence chiefs. German General Carsten Breuer said a huge increase in production by Russia's military industrial base indicated that Moscow is preparing its stockpiles of weaponry and ammunition for a future clash with NATO, adding that Baltic states were at a particularly high risk of being attacked.

Gotland’s strategic value as both a logistics hub and a launchpad for strikes against Russian military assets in the event of an attack on Europe is not lost on other Western defence chiefs. German General Carsten Breuer said a huge increase in production by Russia’s military industrial base indicated that Moscow is preparing its stockpiles of weaponry and ammunition for a future clash with NATO, adding that Baltic states were at a particularly high risk of being attacked.

'The Baltic States are really exposed to the Russians, right? And once you are there, you really feel this... in the talks we are having over there,' he told the BBC. He recounted that Estonian defence officials had used the analogy of being close to a wildfire where they 'feel the heat, see the flames and smell the smoke', but in Western Europe 'you probably see a little bit of smoke over the horizon and not more'. Last week, David Petraeus, a respected former US general and CIA chief, said Russia could launch an incursion into the Baltic state of Lithuania to test Western resolve, or as a precursor to a wider offensive.

‘The Baltic States are really exposed to the Russians, right? And once you are there, you really feel this… in the talks we are having over there,’ he told the BBC. He recounted that Estonian defence officials had used the analogy of being close to a wildfire where they ‘feel the heat, see the flames and smell the smoke’, but in Western Europe ‘you probably see a little bit of smoke over the horizon and not more’. Last week, David Petraeus, a respected former US general and CIA chief, said Russia could launch an incursion into the Baltic state of Lithuania to test Western resolve, or as a precursor to a wider offensive.

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