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Nato chiefs weigh ‘more aggressive’ response to Russian hybrid warfare

▸ Focus on cable cutting and cyber ▸ Switch from ‘reactive’ to ‘proactive’ ▸ Kyiv officials in US peace talks

High table: from left, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Jared Kushner meet Ukrainian officials yesterday

RICHARD MILNE — OSLO CHRISTOPHER MILLER — KYIV

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Nato is considering being “more aggressive” in responding to Russia’s cyber attacks, sabotage and airspace violations, the alliance’s most senior military officer has said, as senior Ukrainian officials began fresh peace talks in the US.

Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone told the Financial Times that the western military alliance was looking at stepping up its response to hybrid warfare from Moscow.

“We are studying everything . . . On cyber, we are kind of reactive. Being more aggressive or being proactive instead of reactive is something that we are thinking about,” said Dragone, who is chair of Nato’s military committee.

Europe has been hit by numerous hybrid war incidents — some attributed to Russia and others unclear — from the cutting of cables in the Baltic Sea to cyber attacks across the continent.

Some diplomats, especially from eastern European countries, have urged Nato to stop being merely reactive and hit back. Such a response would be easiest for cyber attacks where many countries have offensive capabilities but would be less easy for sabotage or drone intrusions. Dragone said a “pre-emptive strike” could be considered a “defensive action”, but cautioned: “It is further away from our normal way of thinking and behaviour.”

The admiral added: “Being more aggressive compared with the aggressivity of our counterpart could be an option. [The issues are] legal framework, jurisdictional framework, who is going to do this?”

Dragone’s remarks came as Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, son-in-law Jared Kushner and secretary of state Marco Rubio held talks in Florida with a Ukrainian delegation at the start of what could be a pivotal week of diplomacy.

They were seeking to build on discussions in Geneva last week, where both sides reported progress in the US push to end Moscow’s war with Kyiv.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is facing mounting political and military challenges. He dismissed his powerful chief of staff on Friday amid a widening corruption probe that has sucked in several members of his inner circle and senior government officials.

Russian forces are continuing their large-scale missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s capital and critical infrastructure, and troops on the ground in the eastern Donetsk region are pressing ahead with assaults on key strongholds.

In response Ukraine has launched fresh drone attacks on Russian oil and gas facilities and vessels belonging to its shadow fleet in the Black Sea, including a Russian oil terminal near the southern port of Novorossiysk.

Dragone said Nato has had success in deterring Russian aggression against the security pact’s members with its Baltic Sentry mission. It uses ships, aircraft and naval drones to patrol the Baltic Sea, stopping a repeat of numerous cable-cutting incidents in 2023 and 2024 by vessels linked to Russia’s shadow fleet that is designed to circumvent western sanctions.

“From the beginning of Baltic Sentry, nothing has happened. So this means that this deterrence is working,” he said.

However, one Baltic diplomat said: “If all we do is continue being reactive, we just invite Russia to keep trying, keep hurting us. Especially when hybrid warfare is asymmetric — it costs them little, and us a lot. We need to try to be more inventive.”

Dragone conceded that Nato and its members had “much more limits than our counterpart because of ethics, because of law, because of jurisdiction. It is an issue. I don’t want to say it’s a loser position, but it is a harder position than our counterpart’s.”

Nato chiefs weigh ‘more aggress­ive’ response to Rus­sian hybrid war­fare

▸ Focus on cable cut­ting and cyber ▸ Switch from ‘react­ive’ to ‘pro­act­ive’ ▸ Kyiv offi­cials in US peace talks

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