Russia issues chilling WW3 invasion threat 'we'll go all the way to Lisbon'

A crony of Vladimir Putin has threatened Russia will invade Europe and go "all the way to Lisbon". Russian talkshow host Vladimir Solovyov was responding to US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's warning that enemies of the United States would be "crushed" by his War Department.

Solovyov was also talking about criticism of Russia from US President Donald Trump, who he suggested had appeared frustrated that his "good" relationship with Putin hadn't led to an end to the war in Ukraine.

The firebrand TV presenter said relations might be "excellent" between the two leaders, but that should mean they would listen carefully to one another. He said Russia had warned of its concerns about Ukraine "many times", suggesting the US and its allies in the West had ignored the Kremlin.

Moscow has long sought to justify its full-scale invasion of Ukraine by arguing in part that it was necessary to stop the eastward expansion of the NATO military alliance, which Kyiv wanted to join.

Unhinged warmonger, Solovyov, boasted: "We could have simply destroyed everything. We had a different objective. We never had a goal of taking Kyiv. At least the Supreme (Putin) never voiced it this way.

"I think we should go all the way to Lisbon. The issue is with whom. There are 500 million of them (Europeans) and 140 million of us.

"We can go all the way there, but how do we hold it? What do we do with it? And how do we get there? Over scorched Earth? In vehicles designed for passing through contaminated areas of the terrain after conducting nuclear strikes? That's one option."

Solovyov went on to pose a series of questions to Mr Trump and Mr Hegseth, who on Tuesday told a hastily arranged meeting of top US military brass: "Should our enemies choose foolishly to challenge us, they will be crushed by the violence, precision and ferocity of the War Department."

In a bizarre misreading of history, the Russian TV host asked: "When were your last victories? In the Great Patriotic War (Second World War)? Without us, you had zero chances. We won. You were simply next to us."

He went on to ask: "Which of your generals have won any battles lately?"

Solovyov's lunatic ravings translated by YouTube channel, , don't reflect official Russian policy, but do betray an extreme position openly discussed on national TV.

Mr Trump had hoped to find a way to end the war in Ukraine when he met Mr Putin in Alaska in August. But the president's gambit didn't pay off, leading Mr Trump to say his Russian counterpart had really let him down.

When he spoke on Russian TV in the February 2022, Putin warned NATO against interfering, threatening consequences previously not seen in history.

Days after Russia unleashed its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin ordered Russia's command and control system to combat status, which would allow a nuclear weapon launch.

Putin has also reduced the threshold for nuclear weapons use. In November last year, Russia attacked Dnipro using an "Oreshnik" ballistic missile, which experts understand is capable of carrying a nuclear missile. The missile fired at Dnipro was conventionally armed, according to Chatham House.

The thinktank said it is "always possible" Putin might decide to launch a long-range ballistic missile at the US or UK, but he knows this "would be the end of Russia".