🇺🇦🇷🇺Ukraine vs Russia

Rubio Says Ukraine Now Has Europe’s ‘Strongest, Most Powerful’ Army

Rubio praised Ukraine’s wartime military transformation, saying battlefield experience, Western assistance, and rapid innovation in drones and new technology have made its armed forces Europe’s “strongest, most powerful.” He also said Russia is suffering far higher losses and reiterated that Washing

Kyiv Post

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15 mai 2026

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised Ukraine’s military adaptation after more than four years of war, calling its armed forces the “strongest, most powerful” in Europe.

Speaking in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity aboard Air Force One en route to China, Rubio attributed Ukraine’s military evolution to rapid innovation in drones, robotics, and next-generation systems.

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“There’s no doubt that the necessity of fighting this war has caused the Ukrainians to develop new tactics, new techniques, new equipment, new technology that is creating a sort of hybrid asymmetrical warfare,” Rubio said. “That’s impressive, no doubt about it.”

Despite facing a significantly larger adversary, Rubio said Ukraine has sustained its defense through foreign assistance and hard-earned combat experience.

“The Ukrainian armed forces are the strongest, most powerful armed forces in all of Europe, just to be clear, right now,” Rubio said. “Obviously because of a lot of the assistance they’ve gotten, but also because of the battlefield experience that they’ve gained.”

Secretary Rubio said Russia was suffering far greater battlefield losses than Ukraine, estimating that Moscow was losing “five times as many soldiers a month” as Kyiv.

“The Russians are losing 15 to 20,000 soldiers a month dead, not injured, dead,” he said.

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Describing the conflict as a “bad war” devastating to both sides, the secretary reiterated President Donald Trump’s desire for a swift resolution.

“The president just wants to see the war end. He thinks it’s a crazy war. And he’s right,” Rubio said. “You have people dying in massive numbers on both sides. Ukraine is going to spend two decades rebuilding. The damage to the Russian economy is extraordinary.”

While Washington remains ready to broker a diplomatic settlement, Rubio acknowledged that peace efforts have lost momentum over the past few months. He said both sides currently feel a degree of confidence – Ukraine after surviving the winter, and Russia because of rising oil prices.

Nevertheless, Rubio expressed hope that Kyiv and Moscow would soon re-engage, casting the United States as an indispensable mediator.

“I think we’re the only country in the world that can [mediate],” Rubio said. “Both sides keep telling us we’re the only ones that can. In the end, the president wants to see the war end. And if it’s something he can do and we can do to help it end, we’re going to do it.”