US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Russia's war against Ukraine has reached a stalemate that risks widening into a broader regional conflict. His warning followed a Russian strike that killed at least 33 people in Kramatorsk. Separately, Ukrainian drones struck two Russian data centers this week, disrupting Yandex Cloud services.
Rubio warns stalemate could turn into wider war
Speaking in Lisbon on the final stop of a three-country tour of NATO allies Iceland, Greece and Portugal, Rubio described the conflict as very dangerous and said it has reached a stalemate, which he said typically ends through negotiation or escalation. He said the first path requires difficult compromises from both sides, while the second could see Russia or Ukraine intensify the fighting to shift the military balance. Rubio called that prospect dangerous, according to RFE/RL: "That's very dangerous."
He warned that escalation could include Russian sabotage in neighboring NATO countries, a strike, or other actions that could rapidly widen the conflict into one between more than two countries. Rubio said Washington does not see a military solution and remains ready to help broker a negotiated settlement.
His remarks came after a Russian strike on two buses in Kramatorsk killed at least 33 people on October 8. Portugal's foreign minister backed diplomatic efforts to end the war, saying Russia's invasion violates international law and that any settlement should respect Ukraine's sovereignty.
Ukrainian drones hit Yandex data centers
Separately, Ukrainian drones struck Yandex's Sasovo data center in Russia's Ryazan region on October 8, setting off a fire that forced a full shutdown and knocking out two supercomputers used to train the company's YandexGPT AI model.
A second strike hit Yandex's Kaluga site the next day, disabling several modules without taking the facility fully offline. Ukrainian drone maker Firepoint confirmed its drones carried out the Kaluga attack. The strikes disrupted Yandex Cloud services for clients including Russian Railways and MegaFon, and Yandex shares fell approximately 4% on the Moscow Exchange after the second strike.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the strikes as reciprocal, framing them as retaliation for earlier Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centers. Yandex said it is still assessing whether the damaged Sasovo and Kaluga equipment can be restored, and further outages at Yandex Cloud would show whether the damage is spreading beyond the initial strikes.
Sources: Oilprice.com, Crypto Briefing
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