NATO considers a “pre-emptive strike” against Russia’s hybrid warfare, calls for “more aggression”

While Washington, under President Trump, is exceptionally calling for restraint, de-escalation and a peace agreement in Ukraine, a high-ranking NATO commander declares that the conflict requires more aggression from the Western military alliance directly against Russia.

Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chairman of the NATO Military Committee, told the Financial Times that NATO is currently considering more proactive measures in response to Russia’s escalating hybrid warfare. The report cites an alleged increase in Russian-backed cyberattacks, sabotage, and airspace violations over Europe – measures that NATO could mirror and even exceed, as a potential “pre-emptive strike” against Russian targets would be justified.

“We’re reviewing everything……. In the cyber domain, we tend to be reactive,” Dragone said. “Being more aggressive or acting proactively rather than reactively is something we’re considering.”

He explained that a “preventive strike” could, under certain circumstances, be classified as a defensive action. “That is further removed from our normal way of thinking and behaving,” he admitted.

“Being more aggressive than the other person could be an option” – but the open questions are: “legal framework, legal responsibilities, who should do that?”

Several diplomats and representatives from Eastern European and Baltic states are calling for this more proactive stance, or at least a less purely “reactive” approach, in order to inflict real pain on Moscow.

“If we continue to only react, we are simply inviting Russia to keep trying and to continue harming us,” a Baltic diplomat was quoted as saying in the FT.

“Hybrid warfare is asymmetric – it costs them little and us a lot. We need to become more resourceful,” the diplomat said.

For years, there have been covert sabotage operations against Russia, directed by the West. These activities, some of which have long since been exposed in mainstream media, are a key reason for the ongoing escalation of the war in Ukraine.

This, in turn, has led to an escalation of nuclear rhetoric and threats between Russia and the West. Tensions urgently need to be lowered, but the recent statements by the chairman of the NATO Military Committee are having the opposite effect.

Young men continue to pay the price on the battlefield, even as a peace process slowly and painfully takes shape. Reuters has now belatedly acknowledged and documented the enormous losses suffered by the Ukrainian armed forces:

“Pavlo Broshkov had high hopes when he joined the Ukrainian army in March as an inexperienced recruit – ready to defend his country and earn a generous bonus to buy a house for his wife and young daughter.

Three months later, the 20-year-old lay broken and motionless on the battlefield, his dreams destroyed.

Broshkov is one of hundreds of 18- to 24-year-olds who have volunteered for frontline service this year – lured by high wages and perks as part of a national youth recruitment campaign aimed at breathing new life into Ukraine’s aging and exhausted army of around one million soldiers.”

The Kremlin has reacted to Admiral Dragone’s remarks. Kremlin spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described his comments as “an extremely irresponsible step that demonstrates the alliance’s willingness to move further towards escalation.”

Meanwhile, EU states continue to seek every possible way to perpetuate the conflict instead of seeking genuine compromise.

Macron:

In the weeks to come, the pressure on the Russian economy and the capacity of Russia to finance the war effort will drastically change. pic.twitter.com/JOmzDvdKxY

— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 1, 2025

yogaesoteric
December 2, 2025