{"id":472983,"date":"2025-10-04T06:48:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T06:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/472983\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T06:48:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T06:48:13","slug":"europe-needs-to-get-serious-about-threat-posed-to-it-by-russia-ukraine-minister-says-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/472983\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe needs to \u2018get serious\u2019 about threat posed to it by Russia, Ukraine minister says | Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Europe needs to \u201cget serious\u201d about the existential threat posed to it by Russia, Ukraine\u2019s deputy foreign minister has said, warning that Vladimir Putin<\/a> will \u201cescalate escalating\u201d.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Guardian, Sergiy Kyslytsia \u2013 Kyiv\u2019s former ambassador to the UN \u2013 said the Kremlin was already at war with Europe<\/a>. He said Russia\u2019s recent drone incursions against several EU countries were well-calculated and an attempt to \u201cmove the red lines\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure Putin gets emotional if not physical satisfaction humiliating the west by showing what he perceives as his super-strength,\u201d Kyslytsia said, adding that the Russian president\u2019s reckless actions risked antagonising a White House that appeared to be cooling on him. \u201cIt\u2019s a boomerang thing,\u201d Kyslytsia said.<\/p>\n

What Russia does next depends on whether Europe and the Trump administration<\/a> show collective resolve, he suggested. Without a decisive transatlantic response, Putin would \u201cescalate escalating\u201d, he predicted, with more actions designed to disrupt and paralyse the continent.<\/p>\n

Danish police officers scour and area after Copenhagen airport was closed due to drone reports. Photograph: Steven Knap\/Reuters<\/p>\n

In recent weeks Russia has sent decoy drones across the border into Poland and dispatched fighter jets that violated Estonia\u2019s airspace. Incidents involving drones that restricted flights at Munich and Copenhagen airports have raised fears of Russian involvement. Moscow has denied responsibility.<\/p>\n

Kyslytsia claimed Russia had infiltrated EU countries with \u201cagents and moles\u201d 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 \u2013 literally tin cans in Ukrainian \u2013 who could be activated or \u201copened\u201d by Moscow when needed.<\/p>\n

This week, Ukraine\u2019s 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 \u201cRussian hybrid war\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Danish PM, Mette Frederiksen, talks to Germany\u2019s Friedrich Merz and France\u2019s Emmanuel Macron on Thursday. Photograph: Mads Claus Rasmussen\/EPA<\/p>\n

Kyslytsia said he believed European leaders have generally woken up to the threat but added that many others \u2013 including experts and professionals in western Europe \u2013 had yet to grasp it. Greater education was needed to spread the message, in the face of a ruthless and \u201cunscrupulous adversary\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany 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,\u201d Kyslytsia said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the 21st century you don\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking at the foreign ministry in Kyiv, Kyslytsia said Ukraine\u2019s relations with the US administration had improved since spring, when Donald Trump berated Zelenskyy during the two leaders\u2019 meeting in the Oval Office in February. Washington\u2019s attitude towards the war was \u201cmoving\u201d, with a greater understanding that Putin was the main obstacle to peace, Kyslytsia said.<\/p>\n

Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York. Photograph: Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine<\/p>\n

In recent months Ukraine has carried out an increasingly successful campaign to cripple Russia\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Overall, however, Trump has taken few concrete steps to pressure Moscow. Asked whether the US president\u2019s threats were rhetorical rather than real, Kyslystia said: \u201cTrump is holding a big stick. That\u2019s already an achievement. We should not undervalue that. People forget where we were six months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deputy foreign minister suggested the war was turning in Ukraine\u2019s favour, despite the fact Russian troops continue to advance \u2013 albeit slowly \u2013 in several parts of the battlefield. He cited positive changes in Washington, \u201cmore serious\u201d discussions in Europe and Russia\u2019s failure to achieve a military breakthrough in its summer offensive.<\/p>\n

Sergiy Kyslytsia holds the UN charter as he addresses an emergency special session of the general assembly on Russia\u2019s invasion in March 2022. Photograph: Eduardo Mu\u00f1oz\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Kyslystia is one of the Ukrainian government\u2019s most effective communicators, known for his lively social media posts. He became something of a cult figure in Ukraine soon after Putin\u2019s full-scale invasion when he ostentatiously read a book entitled What\u2019s Wrong With Diplomacy? as the Russia\u2019s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, made a speech to the security council.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Europe needs to \u201cget serious\u201d about the existential threat posed to it by Russia, Ukraine\u2019s deputy foreign minister…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-472983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115314563875485032","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}