Brussels/Moscow – December 2, 2025 – In a sharp escalation of tensions, NATO's highest-ranking military officer has indicated the alliance is seriously considering “pre-emptive strikes” against Russia in response to an intensifying campaign of sabotage, cyberattacks, and airspace incursions across Europe. The remarks, made in a wide-ranging interview with the Financial Times, have provoked an immediate and furious reaction from Moscow, which accused the West of deliberately torpedoing fragile peace negotiations over Ukraine while preparing for outright war.
Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the Italian chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, warned that the alliance’s traditional policy of only responding after an attack may no longer be sustainable. “We are studying everything,” he said. “On cyber, we are kind of reactive. Being more aggressive or being proactive instead of reactive is something that we are thinking about.” He acknowledged that a genuine pre-emptive strike would mark a dramatic departure from NATO’s normal defensive mindset but added that, under certain circumstances, such an action could still be classified as defensive.
Dragone stressed that hybrid warfare — the alliance is now facing is deeply asymmetric: Russia can inflict significant damage at very low cost and with plausible deniability, while NATO’s responses remain constrained by legal, political, and ethical considerations. He described cyber counter-attacks as the most straightforward option, given the offensive digital capabilities of many member states, but did not rule out physical retaliation against sabotage sites or drone-launch facilities.
The admiral’s comments reflect growing frustration among NATO’s eastern members. A senior Baltic diplomat told reporters: “If all we do is continue being reactive, we just invite Russia to keep trying, keep hurting us. Hybrid warfare is asymmetric — it costs them little, and us a lot. We need to be more inventive.”
Europe has indeed faced a dramatic surge in hostile incidents widely attributed to Russian intelligence services. Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, documented cases of arson, explosions, recruitment of proxies, GPS jamming, and undersea cable sabotage have multiplied. A fire that destroyed a Ukrainian-owned warehouse in east London earlier this year, multiple severed Baltic Sea data cables, repeated incursions into NATO airspace, and relentless cyber intrusions against critical infrastructure in Poland, the Baltics, and Scandinavia have all been linked by Western intelligence agencies to Moscow-directed operations.
Moscow’s response was swift and uncompromising. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the admiral’s remarks as “an extremely irresponsible step” that demonstrated NATO’s “readiness to continue moving towards escalation.” She accused the alliance of deliberately attempting to derail diplomatic efforts to resolve the Ukrainian crisis and warned that those making such statements “should be aware of the risks and possible consequences, including for the alliance members themselves.”
Russia’s ambassador to Belgium went further, claiming NATO is “intimidating its own population with the Kremlin’s non-existent plans to attack alliance countries” and asserted that the West is actively “preparing for a major war with Russia.”
The war of words unfolds against a complex and rapidly evolving diplomatic backdrop. Peace negotiations aimed at ending the fighting in Ukraine have gained unexpected momentum since Donald Trump’s return to the White House. On Monday, Trump described the talks as “going along well,” and multiple U.S. and European officials have characterized recent negotiating sessions as surprisingly productive. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is scheduled to arrive in Moscow this week for direct discussions with Russian leadership, accompanied in an advisory capacity by Jared Kushner. The Kremlin confirmed the visit and said the meetings would explore proposals that “could form the basis for future agreements.”
Yet battlefield reality remains brutal. Russian forces continue intensive bombardment of Ukrainian cities and positions. On December 1 alone, missile and drone strikes killed at least four civilians and wounded dozens more in Kharkiv and Dnipro. Ukrainian military reports claim Russian losses now exceed 1.17 million personnel since the war began, while Kyiv acknowledges its own casualties likely approach half a million. President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to face intense domestic and international pressure to secure a settlement that preserves Ukrainian sovereignty, even as Russian troops consolidate recent gains, including the capture of the strategic Donetsk hub of Pokrovsk.
For NATO, the debate over pre-emptive or proactive measures is not merely academic. Eastern European allies, having lived under the shadow of Russian hybrid aggression for years, are pushing hardest for doctrinal change. Meanwhile, larger Western European powers and the United States remain more cautious, wary of any step that could spiral into direct kinetic conflict with a nuclear-armed adversary.
Admiral Dragone himself noted NATO’s heavy reliance on American intelligence, satellite coverage, and logistical support, acknowledging that Europe cannot yet fully replace Washington’s role. At the same time, EU leaders have accelerated plans to raise collective defense spending toward (and in some cases beyond) the 2% of GDP benchmark, with Baltic nations openly discussing 5% targets.
As Witkoff’s plane prepares to touch down in Moscow and Ukrainian cities endure another night of air-raid sirens, the continent finds itself at a precarious crossroads. NATO is openly debating whether decades of reactive deterrence are still fit for purpose in an era of constant low-level aggression. Russia, in turn, portrays any Western move toward proactive defense as proof of belligerent intent.
Whether the current diplomatic opening produces a durable ceasefire or collapses under the weight of mutual suspicion remains uncertain. What is clear is that the threshold between hybrid shadow war and open confrontation has rarely felt thinner.
