EU Defense Commissioner nominee names possible timeline for war with Russia

Kubilius, who has twice served as the Prime Minister of Lithuania, said that the EU "must be ready to meet Russia militarily in six to eight years," adding that the bloc also needs to increase production and replenish its stockpiles of weapons and ammunition.

Kubilius, who is awaiting confirmation hearings in the European Parliament next month, represents the European People's Party, which holds the most seats in the body. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has tasked him with increasing investments in European security and uniting the highly fragmented European defense industry.

His warning about Russia echoes a similar statement made by Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who in January said that Russia could attack NATO within "five to eight years."

After being nominated for the EU Commissioner post, Kubilius said that issuing joint bonds should be considered to raise an additional 500 billion euros needed to accelerate the development of the EU's industry. Some member states, including Germany, have opposed the proposal to sell more joint debt.

Kubilius also proposed creating mandatory ammunition reserves for the EU, an idea that sparked a sharp reaction from Jens Stoltenberg in his final days as NATO Secretary General before he handed the position over to Dutchman Mark Rutte.

"I welcome more EU efforts on defense, as long as they are done in a way that doesn’t duplicate or compete with NATO," Stoltenberg said, praising the new Commissioner's announced task of addressing the fragmentation of the European defense industry. But, he added, the EU should not "start to build alternative defense structures."

Earlier, NATO's head of logistics command, Alexander Solfrank, said that the war scenarios with Russia would differ from the experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq, as the conflict would involve a much larger area of operations.