A senior US defence official has told the Associated Press that American missile defences in Europe have fallen to a "beyond critical" level — a shortfall that could leave NATO allies dangerously exposed if Russia launches a ballistic missile strike. The warning, confirmed independently by a NATO official, centres on Patriot interceptors: the high-speed missiles designed to knock Russia's ballistic weapons out of the sky before they hit targets such as military headquarters or power plants. The root cause, according to both officials, is President Donald Trump's six-month-old war against Iran. Patriot batteries and interceptors have been steadily transferred from European stockpiles to the Middle East, where US forces and Gulf allies have fired off significant numbers to defeat Iranian drones and missiles.

Some of those attacks have killed and wounded American troops. The result is that the US military in Europe now "definitely" lacks enough Patriots to stop a sustained ballistic missile assault, and would have only "very limited" capability against even a single stray Russian missile. The stakes were underscored this week when CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Moscow — reportedly to warn the Kremlin not to attack NATO territory. When asked on Thursday whether Ratcliffe had delivered that message directly to Vladimir Putin, Trump gave a characteristically indirect reply: "I don't want to comment on that, but they're not going to attack.

" European and NATO planners are less certain; their own assessments suggest Russia could be in a position to strike alliance members as early as 2030.