Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.

Over half of NATO allies are now part of the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, a program to buy U.S. weapons for the Eastern European nation.

The Trump administration expects Europe, not the US, to lead the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), defence secretary Pete Hegseth said, marking an apparent shift in Washington’s stance toward the 76-year transatlantic alliance.

The Russian submarine Novorossiysk had surfaced off the coast of France last week and was later escorted by the Dutch navy in the North Sea.View on euronews

"What a change from the 1984 Tom Clancy novel The Hunt for Red October. Today, it seems more like the hunt for the nearest mechanic," NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said.

Russia denies reports that one of its submarines suffered a malfunction after surfacing off the coast of France.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that more firepower is headed to Ukraine, as NATO allies intensify efforts to bolster the country’s defenses against Russia.

Over the summer, NATO started to coordinate regular deliveries of large weapons packages to Ukraine to help fend off Russia’s war.

NATO faces increased Russian testing through gray-zone tactics as Trump warns the Ukraine war could lead to World War III with Moscow.

The incident came shortly after an estimated 20 Russian drones crossed into NATO member Poland. Both Warsaw and Tallinn triggered NATO's Article 4, in which member nations come together to discuss "whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened."