Europe needs to “get serious” about the existential threat posed to it by Russia, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister has said, warning that Vladimir Putin will “escalate escalating”.
In an interview with the Guardian, Sergiy Kyslytsya – Kyiv’s former ambassador to the UN – said the Kremlin was already at war with Europe. He said Russia’s recent drone incursions against several EU countries were well-calculated and an attempt to “move the red lines”.
“I’m sure Putin gets emotional if not physical satisfaction humiliating the west by showing what he perceives as his super-strength,” Kyslytsya said, adding that the Russian president’s reckless actions risked antagonising a White House that appeared to be cooling on him. “It’s a boomerang thing,” Kyslytsya said.
What Russia does next depends on whether Europe and the Trump administration show collective resolve, he suggested. Without a decisive transatlantic response, Putin would “escalate escalating”, he predicted, with more actions designed to disrupt and paralyse the continent.
In recent weeks Russia has sent decoy drones across the border into Poland and dispatched fighter jets that violated Estonia’s airspace. Incidents involving drones that restricted flights at Munich and Copenhagen airports have raised fears of Russian involvement. Moscow has denied responsibility.
Kyslytsya claimed Russia had infiltrated EU countries with “agents and moles” he said were responsible for drone flights over airports in Denmark and Germany, as well as in allied military bases. He described them as konservy – literally tin cans in Ukrainian – who could be activated or “opened” by Moscow when needed.
This week, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, met EU leaders at a summit in Copenhagen, where the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said Europe faced its most difficult and dangerous situation since the end of the second world war and that all countries were affected by the “Russian hybrid war”.
Kyslytsya said he believed European leaders have generally woken up to the threat but added that many others – including experts and professionals in western Europe – had yet to grasp it. Greater education was needed to spread the message, in the face of a ruthless and “unscrupulous adversary”, he said.
“Many politicians are still keeping in their heads in the patterns and algorithms of the last century, where a war means boots on the ground and tanks moving in,” Kyslytsya said.
“In the 21st century you don’t need tanks to put technologically advanced countries on their knees. Cyberwar is a reality. Howitzers are not necessary to paralyse the banking system. By using drones in a smart way you can achieve your goals better than with a nuclear bomb.”
Speaking at the foreign ministry in Kyiv, Kyslytsya said Ukraine’s relations with the US administration had improved since spring, when Donald Trump berated Zelenskyy during the two leaders’ meeting in the Oval Office in February. Washington’s attitude towards the war was “moving”, with a greater understanding that Putin was the main obstacle to peace, Kyslytsya said.
In recent months Ukraine has carried out an increasingly successful campaign to cripple Russia’s oil production, via long-range strikes using homemade drones. According to the Wall Street Journal, the US this week agreed to share intelligence to help Kyiv coordinate attacks on targets deep inside Russia.
Overall, however, Trump has taken few concrete steps to pressure Moscow. Asked whether the US president’s threats were rhetorical rather than real, Kyslystya said: “Trump is holding a big stick. That’s already an achievement. We should not undervalue that. People forget where we were six months ago.”
The deputy foreign minister suggested the war was turning in Ukraine’s favour, despite the fact Russian troops continue to advance – albeit slowly – in several parts of the battlefield. He cited positive changes in Washington, “more serious” discussions in Europe and Russia’s failure to achieve a military breakthrough in its summer offensive.
Kyslystya is one of the Ukrainian government’s most effective communicators, known for his lively social media posts. He became something of a cult figure in Ukraine soon after Putin’s full-scale invasion when he ostentatiously read a book entitled What’s Wrong With Diplomacy? as the Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, made a speech to the security council.
