European Defence Ministers and senior officials have held urgent talks over plans to create a “drone wall” along NATO’s eastern flank, amid mounting concern about alleged Russian incursions into allied airspace.
The online meeting, chaired by EU Defence Commissioner, Andrius Kubilius, involved Defence Ministers from ten European Union countries. Ukrainian Defence Minister, Denys Shmyhal and NATO representatives joined as observers.
The talks aimed to discuss the equipment needed by the countries to counter drone attacks and boost NATO’s eastern flank. The focus is on improving the detection and tracking of small and hard-to-spot drones, and coming up with a joint way to respond to any intrusions.
In March, the EU’s executive branch had rejected a request by Estonia and Lithuania to set up a drone wall project. However, tensions along European borders have since increased after Russian drones breached Polish airspace on September 10, 2025.
The immediate focus is on addressing the rising number of rogue drone sightings and confirmed violations of airspace across the region.
Russian drones have recently entered Lithuanian, Polish and Romanian territory while airports in Denmark were temporarily shut this week after unidentified drones appeared nearby.
The bloc is also alarmed by a surge in unexplained drone activity over Danish territory earlier this month.
NATO jets scrambled on September 10, 2025, to shoot down a swarm of about 20 Russian drones that breached Polish airspace in what officials called the most serious violation since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Similar incursions were reported in Estonia, Romania and Latvia this month. Russia has either denied responsibility or dismissed them as accidents, but EU and NATO leaders have described the pattern as deliberate provocations.
Speaking at a news conference in Helsinki after the talks, Andrius Kubilius, the EU Defence Commissioner, stressed that the “repeated violations of our airspace are unacceptable.” “The message is clear: Russia is testing the EU and NATO and our response must be firm, united, and immediate,” Kubilius stated.
Kubilius disclosed that Ministers backed a broad plan to bolster the EU’s eastern defences and said that the “immediate priority” should be a “drone wall, with advanced detection, tracking, and interception capabilities.”
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).
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.”
Andrius Kubilius
Talks On ‘Drone Wall’ Deemed Valuable Starting Point
Finnish Defense Minister, Antti Hakkanen said that the meeting was “a valuable starting point” for achieving concrete results.
“Recent incidents show that there is a need to analyze jointly our concrete next steps… Detection, counter-drone, and command-and-control capabilities are all important… This work should be coordinated closely with NATO and we are on the right track with that cooperation now.”
Antti Hakkanen
Also, Ukraine’s Defence Minister, Denys Shmyhal said that his country was “ready to participate” in the project.
He noted on social media that the drone wall will create a “fundamentally new defence ecosystem in Europe, of which Ukraine is ready to be a part.”
EU officials say that the initial focus would be to develop a network of sensors to help better detect any incursions.
They claim the aim is to have that first stage ready within a year but building capabilities to intercept the drones would take longer.
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