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.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, on Capitol Hill, in Washington. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo)
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.
