By Alex Raufoglu

Copyright kyivpost

WASHINGTON DC – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that recent Russian drone incursions into NATO airspace are a symptom of a “protracted war,” with attacks “designed largely to weaken one another.”

Speaking from Jerusalem during an interview with Fox News, Rubio addressed the latest provocations. He pushed back against the idea that the incursions showed Russian President Vladimir Putin was emboldened, arguing instead that they were “an example of why this war the President thinks needs to end.”

Rubio warned that “wars generally will escalate” and “get worse, not better.”

Reciprocal cycle far from the front lines

Rubio said the strikes were part of a reciprocal cycle, pointing out that “the Ukrainians are conducting strikes in Russia as well.”

He noted the drone operations were “far from the front lines” and “have no impact on the front lines,” suggesting they are more about attrition than military gain.

The Secretary of State also defended the administration’s foreign policy on the conflict. “No one in the world has done more to end – to try to end the Ukraine-Russia war than President Trump has,” he said.

Rubio added that Trump “inherited this war” and has since “expended a tremendous amount of political capital, energy, and time in trying to bring it about to an end.”

Calls for Europe to step up

When asked about new sanctions, Rubio was noncommittal, stating the administration “fully understands the sanctions that we have available to us, and at some point the President may decide to do that.”

He stressed that the decision rests with the president and that he would not “artificially announce a time frame.”

Rubio also called on European allies to do more, noting that some countries “are still buying Russian products, including Russian oil,” and challenged them to “impose the sanctions themselves that they’re asking us to impose.”

Rubio’s comments came as Europe grappled with a new wave of incidents. On Monday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that two Belarusian citizens were detained after a drone was neutralized over government buildings in Warsaw. The incident followed other recent incursions that have prompted diplomatic action.

Both Britain and Romania on Monday summoned Russian ambassadors to protest airspace violations. The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office called a recent incursion into Polish and Romanian airspace an “unprecedented violation of NATO airspace.”

London said it “stands united with Poland, Romania, Ukraine and our NATO Allies in unreservedly condemning these reckless actions.”

Days after Poland shot down Russian drones last week, Romania scrambled warplanes over a similar incursion.

Expert: NATO unprepared for a new kind of warfare

Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of the humanitarian organization Hope for Ukraine, told Kyiv Post on Monday that the conflict has ushered in a new type of warfare that the West is ill-equipped to handle. “The time has come to admit that, at present, the Ukrainian army is the strongest in Europe,” he said.

He argued that only Ukraine and Russia possess armies that have made significant breakthroughs in technological innovation and are now engaged in a completely new kind of warfare – one that differs from anything the EU, USA, or China has ever experienced.

Boyechko highlighted a recent incident where 19 Russian “bait drones” that cost approximately $10,000 each violated Polish airspace. According to him, only a handful were shot down, using missiles that cost over $1.5 million each, which he called an “unsustainable defense model.”

He concluded that instead of providing security guarantees, “NATO should be learning from Ukrainian instructors about how to fight and win the drone war,” warning that Russian drone attacks on European nations are likely to increase as Putin “senses fear in both Europe and the US.”