NATO is planning to build a pipeline system from Germany to Poland and the Czech Republic to ensure a rapid supply of jet fuel for fighter aircraft in the event of a war with Russia, weekly German magazine Der Spiegel reported.

The existing Cold War-era pipeline system of the military alliance currently ends in western Germany.

Der Spiegel cited an internal memo from the Bundeswehr - Germany’s armed forces - as stating that there are “significant problems in the sustainable fuel supply for forces that would need to be deployed to the eastern border in case of emergency”.