Nato’s top commander says alliance does not want war but is ‘ready to fight tonight’

JUST IN: NATO's top military commander says the alliance does not want war but is 'ready to fight tonight' if attacked, as European officials warn Russia could test NATO defences with covert attacks or a limited incursion.

Ready to fight tonight. That's NATO's top military commander, in his own words, at the Warsaw Security Forum.

US General Alexus Grynkewich, speaking here, laid out what he calls NATO's Theory of Victory. The alliance doesn't want war, he said, but if Russia attacks, it answers with autonomous systems and military force. His logic is old school. The best way to keep the peace is to prepare for war, and keep the phone lines open to clear up misunderstandings before they become missiles.

The backdrop matters. European officials are warning Russia could probe NATO's defences with covert attacks or even a limited incursion. And it's not hypothetical. There's been an arson attack on an Estonian defence company, and a failed attempt to sabotage a Ukrainian aircraft at a German airport.

Grynkewich says conflict isn't imminent or inevitable. But when the man running NATO's forces feels the need to say we can fight tonight, somebody in Moscow was meant to hear it.

This is Kateryna Kovalenko, reporting for HIT.