French Army Chief Warns Troops to Be Ready “Tonight” for War with Russia

The Chief of Staff of the French Army, General Pierre Schill, has issued an exceptionally stark and urgent warning to his forces, stating they must be prepared “as early as tonight” for a high-intensity war, explicitly citing the possibility of a direct military confrontation with Russia to defend a NATO ally. The general’s dramatic statement, made on Wednesday, represents one of the most direct and alarming public comments from a senior NATO military leader to date.
General Schill’s remarks were delivered amidst a backdrop of severely heightened tensions across Europe. The continent is grappling with a widespread “hybrid warfare” campaign attributed to Russia, which has seen repeated and disruptive drone incursions in several Nordic and Western European countries. Furthermore, the situation in Ukraine remains volatile, with a massive Russian airstrike just days ago prompting a significant NATO air defense response over Poland.
“The international situation dictates that we must be prepared for the most demanding engagements,” General Schill said in a published directive to his troops. “The specter of high-intensity warfare has returned. The French Army must be ready to respond, without delay, to any threat against our nation or our allies. This readiness must be immediate. We must be ready as early as tonight.”
The general’s message leaves no room for ambiguity, directly referencing a scenario in which France would be called upon to fulfill its Article 5 obligations under the NATO treaty, which stipulates that an attack on one member is an attack on all. His warning points to a potential conflict breaking out on the alliance’s eastern flank, which includes nations like Poland, Romania, and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
France has been a key contributor to NATO’s enhanced forward presence in Eastern Europe since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, leading a multinational battlegroup in Romania and contributing to air policing missions in the Baltics. General Schill’s call to arms is intended to shift the mindset of the entire French Army from a posture of deterrence to one of immediate combat readiness.
The statement reflects a growing concern within Western military circles that Russia’s aggressive actions could spill over, either by accident or design, into a direct conflict with the alliance. It serves as a clear signal to Moscow that at least one of NATO’s major military powers is preparing for the worst-case scenario, and it is a sobering message to the French public and the wider world about the precarious state of European security.