From a record drone attack on Kyiv to a missile test near Finland’s border, Russia’s moves are raising alarm across Europe. Poland’s leader says to brace for anything.
[SEWARD] You’ve probably already seen stories about the head of the CIA going to Russia for the first time during this administration. CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a surprise trip to Moscow, his first, pushing to keep Russia from targeting NATO countries and floating a possible summit between Trump, Putin, and Zelenskyy, priorities President Trump is already muddying:
Well, none of the above. He’s there, you know, very sort of semi-routine. I hate to disappoint people. We would like to see the war with Ukraine end. Now something may come out, you know, out of it. We’re working very hard to get that war ended, uh, and frankly they both want to see it ended at this point. — President Trump
[SEWARD] But now Europe is bracing for what could be the most dangerous six months of the Ukraine war so far, and the warning is coming right on the doorstep of Russia. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Russia’s escalation against NATO allies is “progressing.” After a call with NATO Secretary General, Tusk told Poland and the world to prepare for “various scenarios,” warning that the next six months will be decisive.
The warning comes after the deadliest Russian strike yet on Ukraine in 2026. Friday night, a drone attack hit an ammunition warehouse near Kyiv, killing at least 38 people. It’s part of a ramped-up Russian air campaign that includes once-rare daytime attacks on the capital as Ukraine’s air defenses are getting stretched thin.
That same day, Russia added to the tension. They launched an unnamed intercontinental ballistic missile in what they called publicly a successful test, from a region less than a day’s drive from the border with Finland.
The Kremlin dismisses escalation fears as a Western “horror story,” but admits peace talks around Ukraine are what Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called a “deep pause.”
There’s also word of a possible new front. A top Zelenskyy aide says that Putin has ordered his military to prepare for operations that could reach the Belarus border, right as Putin and Belarus’s president met over the weekend.
But this isn’t just about Ukraine. Germany says it’s now further into the crosshairs of hybrid attacks and gray zone warfare after an explosive drone was found near a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig Airport. Lithuania just deployed air defenses to protect its capital city, and a new U.S. government report found Russia-linked hybrid attacks across Europe have quadrupled since 2023, I took a trip to Russia’s border with NATO this year, visiting allies Finland, Estonia, and Poland.
Read more:
- Ukraine war threatens to become regional conflict, European leaders warn
- Trump predicts Putin won’t attack NATO countries
- Russian security official threatens Germany with attacks, calls European countries terror sponsors
- CIA chief’s visit to Moscow related to resolving Ukraine war, Trump says
- Kremlin: CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Russian intelligence officials but not Putin
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