Lavrov warns war with Europe would be 'very short'; foreign troops in Ukraine seen as casus belli

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that any war between Russia and Europe would be 'completely different and very short', and reiterated that deployment of foreign military forces in Ukraine would be treated as a declaration of war. This escalates rhetoric amid ongoing tensions, signaling a hardening of Moscow's red lines. The statement is unverified and likely part of coercive diplomacy, but it raises the stakes for NATO allies considering deeper involvement.