Marco Rubio has suddenly found concern for American-linked ships and oil supplies being hit by Ukraine, “probably not deliberately,” but something that “needs to be addressed.” He cannot find a single sentence for what Russia has been doing to American companies inside Ukraine for three years.
The Asymmetry
The asymmetry is obvious. It is the entire policy. Russia has run a deliberate, large-scale campaign against American corporate assets in Ukraine. More than 50% of American companies operating there have taken damage from Russian missiles and drones.
Moscow is deliberately carrying out these strikes. It is targeting them. The record is clear.
The Record of Strikes
- Boeing: Russian missile hit the Kyiv office of the American aerospace giant in June 2025.
- Flex Ltd.: In August 2025, Russian cruise missiles struck the American electronics plant in Mukachevo, far behind the front lines. Fifteen people wounded. The facility assembles household appliances, including Nespresso coffee machines.
- Mondelez International: facilities repeatedly hit in combined missile and drone attacks in 2026.
- Cargill: Russian drones attacked a major grain terminal in southern Ukraine in mid-April 2026. Vessels and port infrastructure tied to the company’s exports remain under constant Russian attack.
- Philip Morris: a Russian missile destroyed part of the tobacco factory in Kharkiv region at the end of January. In July 2026, Russia destroyed a Philip Morris warehouse in Kyiv.
- PepsiCo: a plant in Mykolaiv region damaged in a Russian attack at the end of August 2026.
- Coca-Cola: the production complex near Kyiv targeted again in early September 2026, with drones damaging the plant.
- Bunge: a targeted Russian strike on a civilian sunflower oil facility in Dnipro in September 2026. Repeated strikes spilled more than 300 tons of oil onto the road.
Rubio’s Silence
Rubio has no words for any of that. Russian strikes on American assets are background noise. Ukrainian strikes on the refineries funding Russia’s war are a problem to solve.
That is something else. That is laundering Moscow’s priorities through the State Department.