Rubio: Russians ‘Playing Defense,’ ‘Tough Task’ to Take Kyiv

Monday on FNC’s “Hannity,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) assessed the invasion of Ukraine as the Russians playing “defense ” due to bad planning and subpar equipment.

The Florida Republican U.S. Senator predicted difficulties for the Russians as they are attempting to claim Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

“I think you’re seeing that play out,” he said. “Look, I mean, the Russians are bringing to bear about 65% — 60, 65% of their entire conventional forces are now inside the country of Ukraine. After 20 years of massive increases in defense spending, I think you’re seeing a couple of things — bad planning, no doubt about it. I think you’re also seeing that some of the Russian equipment isn’t as good as advertised. But the last thing you’re seeing is probably the most important is that will to fight, and that’s not something that’s easily measured.”

“You know, you can’t either — I don’t think Putin or the Russian military thought that Ukrainians would fight the way they have right now and they’re playing defense, they’re in a defensive position, which has allowed them for example, for weeks to build up defenses around Kyiv,” Rubio added. “So I don’t think the Russians are going to be able to go in and take any of these cities. They may be able to level them like you were just saying, but take them? That’s going to be a tough task, especially Kyiv.”

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

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