Overview
- Speaking Monday in Vilnius, Andrius Kubilius said the EU still lacks the sensors and cost‑effective interceptors needed to detect and destroy Russian drones.
- He warned that excluding Ukraine would be a "historical mistake" and argued its combat experience should inform Europe's collective defense.
- Russian drones recently entered the airspace of Poland, the Baltic states and Romania, with damage reported to a residential roof in Wyryki in eastern Poland.
- In September, NATO fighters over Poland used expensive guided missiles to shoot down relatively cheap drones, highlighting a costly asymmetry.
- NATO has reinforced its eastern flank with added counter‑drone systems as the EU races to build capability, and European intelligence warns Russia could target a NATO country in the years after a possible end to the Ukraine war.