On Friday, the Commission gathered defense ministers from Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. Hungary, Slovakia and the Danish Council presidency were also represented. In a separate meeting where NATO was present as an observer, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal briefed them on his country’s “battle-tested expertise.”
Participants agreed the drone wall should include detection, tracking and interception capabilities, the Commission said. Other assets should include ground-based defenses, such as anti-mobility systems, maritime security as well as space-based situational awareness.
In a bid to bring Southern European countries and those more distant from Russia on board, both the European Commission and front-line nations insisted that Russian drones posed a risk to the bloc as a whole, not only Central and Eastern Europe.
The drone incursions in Denmark — which the government says may be linked to Russia — show that “the threat is not limited to the eastern flank, that drones could be launched from a nearby ship or vessel,” Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said.
The drone wall will be on the agenda of next week’s informal EU leaders’ meeting in Copenhagen. The Commission will now come up with “a detailed technical roadmap with national experts” as well as “build a comprehensive EU financial toolbox to make this shield a reality.” The project could be funded by the €150 billion loans-for-weapons SAFE scheme and the €1.5 billion European Defence Industry Program (EDIP), but Brussels is also looking at other options.
Ukraine, which has more than three years of battlefield experience against Russian drones, is ready to participate and provide expertise, including by sending technical teams to train EU and NATO armed forces, Shmyhal said.