The establishment of a drone wall on the EU’s eastern border is reported to have been discussed by defence ministers from ten European Union countries, Ukrainian Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal and NATO representatives as observers during a video conference on Friday 26 September.
Source: European Pravda, citing Andrius Kubilius, European Commissioner for Defence and Space
Quote: “So we have today defence ministers from frontline countries, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and we were also joined by Hungary and Slovakia.And we had also a high representative and the Danish Council Presidency and the Danish defence minister.”
Details: Kubilius explained that the drone wall is seen as part of a larger project currently called Eastern Flank Watch, which has three components: land (protection of EU borders), sea (a sea wall to protect against any provocations from the sea) and air (a drone wall).
“And at today’s meeting, we agreed to move from, let’s say, discussions to concrete actions, and we agreed on the most important points that Eastern Flank Watch with a drone wall at its core … and together with front-line partners and the invaluable experience of Ukraine, we reached a shared understanding of its design,” the European commissioner elaborated.
He added that NATO representatives had joined as observers.
“Also, we had a very good opportunity and a lot of attention was paid to a very substantial and very informative presentation by the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Denys Smyhal, who shared really invaluable battle-tested expertise,” Kubilius said.
Background:
Commenting on the violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones, Kubilius called for the urgent development of a drone wall on the eastern flank of the EU.Media reports indicate that the European Union will rely on technologies that have been battle-tested in Ukraine when establishing the drone wall.Earlier, Kubilius stated that the EU would need time to create a full-fledged network to counter drones.
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