By The Washington Times (World News) | Created at 2026-08-30 19:08:39 | Updated at 2026-08-30 20:09:20
2 hours ago
Poland’s prime minister over the weekend warned Europe and the U.S. that Russia’s war in Ukraine isn’t slowing down, it’s escalating and threatening to engulf Europe.
European leaders have been told by NATO that Russia’s ongoing incursions and provocations aimed at members of the alliance look increasingly like an “escalation” of Moscow’s war on Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote in a social media post on Saturday.
“The escalation from Russia’s side is progressing,” Mr. Tusk wrote after a call with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Saturday. “The next six months will be decisive, and we must be prepared as Poland and NATO for various scenarios.”
The prime minister’s comments came after the deadliest Russian attack on Ukraine this year, with at least 38 dead in a Friday night strike in the village of Myla near Kyiv.
The attack came as Russia has sharply intensified its air campaign recently in the 4 1/2-year-old war, with air raid sirens wailing repeatedly and explosions and the rumble of air defenses, according to the Associated Press.
The shift in Russian tactics has put more pressure on Ukraine’s already strained air defenses while keeping civilians on alert for hours. Previously, daytime attacks on the capital had been relatively rare.
Mr. Rutte has previously characterized Russia’s actions along the eastern flank of the NATO alliance as a slowly intensifying campaign of hybrid attacks intended to directly interfere with democratic allies in the region.
Ukraine is signaling that another front may open in the war as well. Pavlo Palisa, deputy chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Friday that Mr. Putin has ordered his military to prepare for operations that could include the border of Belarus. The warning comes as the Belarusian strongman and president, Alexander Lukashenko, met over the weekend with Mr. Putin. The two discussed what Mr. Lukashenko’s office called “current regional and international issues, as well as security matters.”
Russia’s saber-rattling is being heard and felt across Europe.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany had moved “further into the crosshairs of hybrid attackers” after investigators determined an explosive drone found near a Ukrainian cargo aircraft at Leipzig airport in August was likely linked to a foiled Russian sabotage plot.
Mr. Merz said those responsible “will pay for it.”
A Congressional Research Service report released Aug. 11 found Russian-linked hybrid attacks across Europe “increasing in number and severity,” with one study showing such incidents aimed at interrupting or discouraging European support for Ukraine have quadrupled between 2023 and 2024.
Lithuania, a NATO ally directly bordering Russia, announced that it had deployed one of its air defense systems to protect its capital city of Vilnius, according to local news outlets.
According to analysts, Russia’s posturing has yet to include arraying troops in greater numbers along the NATO border, but its strategic footing has shifted.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on social media that it had conducted a successful test of a “mobile-based intercontinental ballistic missile” on Friday. The test came just hours after Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that escalation of the conflict is one of the “traditional horror stories often published in Western media,” but he did say that “peace talks” over Ukraine are “currently on a deep pause.”
The launch and hardened language around Ukraine both come after a surprise trip by Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe on Tuesday. That trip was, at least in part, to discuss a possible ceasefire meeting and tell Russia that the U.S. government will stand by its European allies, according to officials familiar with the talks. Mr. Ratcliffe proposed a trilateral summit between Mr. Trump, Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelenskyy during the meeting, according to reporting by Axios.
“We would like to see the war with Ukraine end,” Mr. Trump said when asked about why Mr. Ratcliffe was in Russia by talk show host Glenn Beck. “Something may come out of it. We’re working very hard to get that war ended.”
