Secretary of State Marco Rubio believes the Russia-Ukraine war “has no military solution” but fears an increase in long-range exchanges could dramatically escalate the violence.
Speaking to Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, Rubio offered a lengthy assessment of the Russian invasion. He noted specifically that “one thing that has changed” the nature of the conflict is Ukraine becoming “increasingly effective at conducting long-range strikes deep into Russia” and hitting “critical nodes of the Russian economy.”
“Russia has always been capable of these long-range strikes,” he explained, but Ukraine’s ability to respond in kind means “the risk of escalation is real — more real than it was two years ago.”
An onslaught of drones and missiles poured onto Ukraine on Tuesday, killing nearly two dozen and injuring over 100 more. The Institute for the Study of War speculated that the ramp-up in recent bombing campaigns is meant to pick up the slack of a fatigued land invasion that has slowed to a glacial pace.
“The Ukrainians have actually made some battlefield gains in the last month,” Rubio told Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), praising them for “bravely” and “effectively fighting.” He cited the Department of War in asserting that the Russian side is among the first forces in modern history to suffer more deaths than casualties on the battlefield.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt at this point in the minds of most observers around the world, and I would say in the minds of some inside of Russia, that the invasion of Ukraine has been a strategic disaster for them,” the state secretary said, adding that Russia “may not even be able militarily to achieve the objectives they’re demanding now in negotiations.”
‘PROSPECTS DON’T LOOK GREAT’ FOR A RUSSIA-UKRAINE DEAL, RUBIO ACKNOWLEDGES
Still, Rubio is not optimistic about the prospects of establishing peace any time soon. In his series of four hearings on Capitol Hill beginning Tuesday, he repeatedly asserted that the “demands that both sides have to end [the war] have been far apart to this point.”
Speaking to Durbin, the secretary reiterated a point he made earlier in the day when testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee — that the United States is playing a difficult role in peace talks because U.S. officials are not “impartial mediators,” furnishing Ukraine with weapons and sanctioning the Kremlin.