Nato is considering more aggressive measures towards Russia in response to its escalating hybrid war against the West, a top official said.
Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the head of the alliance’s military committee, said: “Being more aggressive or being proactive instead of reactive is something that we are thinking about.”
A “pre-emptive strike” could be considered a “defensive action”, he told the Financial Times, but said it was “further away from our normal way of thinking and behavior”.
Moscow called the comments “extremely irresponsible”, accusing Nato of suggesting it was “moving towards an escalation”. Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesman, added that it was a “deliberate attempt” to sabotage peace talks.
The proposed change in the alliance’s stance towards Moscow comes amid what has been described as a “pivotal week” for peace talks on the continent.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, said on Monday: “It could be a pivotal week for diplomacy” but warned that the Russia-US talks tomorrow risked piling “all the pressure” on Ukraine, which she said was in “nobody’s interest”.
Rustem Umerov led the Ukrainian team’s talks with US secretary of state Marco Rubio, Donald Trump’s top envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law on Sunday.
Both sides called the talks “productive”, but they failed to yield answers on the most contentious issues, including security guarantees and possible land swaps.
Mr Witkoff held another meeting with Ukrainian negotiator Rustan Umerov on Monday, sources say. He is now en route to Moscow ahead of talks with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to hear Russia’s side on the latest proposal.
Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky met with Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Monday. The pair also held a call with European leaders including Sir Keir Starmer as well as Antonio Costa, the EU council chief , Ursula von der Leyen, the EU commission chief, and Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary-general.
The talks come after Russian strikes on the central city of Dnipro in Ukraine killed four people and injured around 40.
Analysis shows that the Russian army made its biggest advance in Ukraine for a year in November, capturing 701 square km (270 square miles) and controlling, fully or partially, 19.3 per cent of Ukrainian territory by the end of the month.
