Defence ministers from European countries, including Ukraine, held a “drone wall” talks on Friday to counter growing threat of Russia’s drone incursions. The talks are held in the face of Russia’s recent airspace incursions into Poland, Estonia and Romania, as well as drone sightings over Denmark and Norway this week.
Led by EU defence commissioner Andrius Kubilus, the talks also involve NATO “at the technical level”. Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine are all taking part in discussions alongside the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas and EU defence commissioner Andrius Kubilius.
Addressing the meeting, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned about Moscow’s “ill intentions towards the whole world” as he urged the European allies to remain vigilant amid Russia’s aggressive stance.
“European allies have never been so united. We need to be vigilant. Russia has ill intentions towards the whole world, and those who border with it are the first to feel it,” Tusk told reporters when asked about recent drone incidents. Poland, along with Estonia invoked NATO Article 4 last week, triggering urgent consultations over violations of their airspaces by around twenty drones and three fighter jets respectively.
Troels Lund Poulsen, the prime minister of Denmark that reported that recently experience the “most serious” attack on its critical infrastructure to date, briefed European ministers on two drone sighting on its airspace on Monday and Wednesday.
The summit participants agreed that “a European collaboration on the drone wall could strengthen Europe’s defence” and that all measures to this end must be “accelerated” to meet challenges.
Romania, another NATO member that intercepted a Russian drone on its airspace last week, suggested that it could partner with Ukraine to produce drones under a new European Union defence funding mechanism. “We need more air defences, nobody has them. Until then, defence will be asymmetrical with huge anti-aircraft costs which could only be covered on a NATO level,” a Romanian government defence source told Reuters.
