Russia's Shadow War: A Warning for the West

by Lawrence Kadish • November 21, 2025 at 5:00 am

The sabotage this week of a Polish railway line appears to be a test of whether NATO has the backbone to defend itself not just from tanks, but from shadows where Russia currently prefers to hide. Pictured: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks with authorities near a sabotaged railway line between Warsaw and Lublin, on November 17, 2025. (Photo by Chancellery of the Polish Prime Minister via Getty Images)

Deliberate drone incursions into sovereign NATO airspace. Suspicious damage to undersea cables. Calculated attacks that test the West's cybersecurity. All these actions by Russia have just been a prelude to the latest effort to intimidate the West from aiding the embattled Ukrainian nation.

Of late there has also been a deliberate effort to sabotage the Polish railway system. No surprise: the gateway had become a crucial gateway for sending military aid to Ukraine. That attack signals Russia's willingness to escalate warfare beyond Ukraine's borders and into NATO territory. This "anonymous" incident, however, reveals an extremely calculated strategy to intimidate European nations while Russia maintains plausible deniability.

The latest sabotage reflects surprisingly sophisticated strategic thinking by the Kremlin: Seek to inflict damage significant enough to complicate operations supporting Ukraine's military, but still avoid an actual NATO military response.

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