NATO officials warn Russia is already waging war with the Western alliance, with a constant campaign of under-the-radar attacks against its eastern flank; a shadow conflict, fought through cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns, drone incursions, and more.
At the border of Belarus and Poland you can see a tangible example of Russia’s hybrid warfare, a billion Euro barrier wall, built starting in 2022 when Moscow began pushing thousands of migrants through.
“Successive Polish governments have had to build a technical barrier, a strong fence, which we have now reinforced with cameras, underground sensors, a technical road, alongside border patrols,” Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radosław Sikorski, told CBN News National Security Correspondent, Caitlin Burke, during a recent media study tour sponsored by several NATO eastern flank countries.
At the height of the crisis, more than 37,000 migrants attempted to cross into Poland from Belarus. Officials admit this tactic exposed a new reality.
“Poland and other eastern flank states are at hybrid war with Russia,” explained Poland’s Deputy Defense Minister, Paweł Zalewski.
Since Russia doesn’t need tanks or missiles to create instability, the wall is more than just a border barrier. Poland uses it as a front-line defense for one of the key gateways to both the European Union and the broader Western Alliance.
Russia’s hybrid campaign, though, isn’t limited to NATO’s land borders.
“From Belarus side, we’re facing (weather) balloons incursion into our airspace and disturbing our civil airports. From Russia, we’re facing also air incursion to our air space with jets,” Robertas Kaunas, Lithuania’s Minister of National Defense, told CBN News.
The concern is less about any single incursion and more about the cumulative effect: testing responses, creating disruption, and keeping governments on edge. Just one day after CBN spoke with Kaunas, a suspected drone was reported near the border with Belarus, prompting an order for all to take shelter as NATO jets responded.
Łask Air Base, supports some of those NATO missions. Polish pilots, part of the Alliance’s larger deterrence efforts along the eastern flank, patrol the skies of the region, deploy to cover Baltic states that don’t have their own air forces, train with American pilots, and gather intelligence.
Lt. Col. Peter Namyslowski commands a small U.S. Air Force presence on Łask, helping support American pilots who rotate through Poland. While training engagements are important, Namyslowski says relationships built there have proven just as valuable.
“When Ukraine was about to be invaded in February of 2022, I walked into the base commander’s office at the time…and I walked into their office and told them, ‘We’re about to go full send from the U.S. air component perspective on this Eastern Flank of NATO.’ And they asked me, ‘Pete…what do you need,’ and I gave them this laundry list of things that were just absurd, and they said, ‘Cool, when do you need it by,’ and I said, ‘Yesterday,’ and they said, ‘Pete, you already, and always had it.’ And that’s the relationship that we have here,” he explained.
Those relationships take on even greater importance as countries in this region face growing pressure from Russia. Both Polish and Lithuanian officials tell CBN News that what matters most in a crisis isn’t troop numbers, it’s the confidence that NATO allies, including the United States, would stand together.
At Camp Herkus, a base in Lithuania, U.S. troops train alongside other NATO allies on a near constant basis. Part of a larger deterrence strategy along the eastern flank.
While on base, we were able to witness the U.S. Army wrapping up Project Flytrap, a joint exercise aimed at testing drone protection systems in the field.
“More than 8,000 troops from eight nations, operationalized in the Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative. We are turning NATO’s increased investment into real warfighting capability,” said Brig. Gen. John Mountford, Deputy Commanding General – Readiness, U.S. Army V Corps.
The exercise reflects lessons learned from Ukraine, where low-cost drones have transformed the battlefield. Officials quickly warn, however, that not every threat can be countered with new technology or military force.
Hybrid warfare often operates below the threshold of traditional conflict, allowing adversaries to create disruption in gray areas, where a conventional military response can be difficult to justify. Right now, one of Moscow’s most effective weapons is disinformation.
In Warsaw, analysts at NASK, Poland’s National Research Institute, track what they describe as a constant stream coming from Russia.
“The most damaging narratives are definitely that NATO has no capabilities of defending our own, that it’s an obsolete, old-fashioned, weakened organization, and that Poland and other countries on the eastern flank might be abandoned in case of any serious kinetic threat,” NASK Senior Threat Analyst Patrycja Krzyśpiak told CBN News.
Moscow’s goal, they say, isn’t convincing people of a single narrative; it’s to create confusion, deepen divisions, and erode trust in governments, institutions, and even alliances.
After spending two weeks along NATO’s Eastern Flank, Burke says one message emerged repeatedly: Officials aren’t just preparing for attacks from Russian missiles, tanks, or troops. They’re focusing on a conflict that’s already playing out online, in the air, at the border, and across society itself. And they say their strongest defense is simple – a united alliance.
