Ukraine’s president has offered to help Poland and other European countries in countering the recent wave of Russian drone incursions – and suggested some of the uncrewed aircraft may have been launched from the Baltic Sea.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking to a security forum in Warsaw, said his country was offering “to Poland and all our partners to build a joint, truly reliable shield against Russian aerial threats”, drawing on Ukraine’s experience.
He said his country’s military “can counter all types of Russian drones and missiles” and argued that “if Russia loses the ability to strike in the skies, it will be unable to continue the war”.
Poland, Romania and Denmark have all been subject to drone incursions during the last month, which have forced the closure of airports and revealed gaps in the ability of Nato to respond effectively.
Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, said the scale of the drone incursions was such that “the entire western, transatlantic community” needed to realise “this is war”. He added: “We didn’t want it, it’s sometimes strange, a war of new type, but it’s still a war.”
Ukraine has been subjected to nightly barrages of drone and missile attacks from Russia since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion more than three years ago. It is able with a mixture of air defence systems, jet patrols, jamming and other techniques to down more than 90% of the incoming drones.
Unidentified drones have disrupted Danish airspace on at least three occasions in the past week, forcing the closure of Copenhagen airport on Monday and two smaller airports on Wednesday. On Friday they were observed over a military airbase at Karup.
None of the drones have been shot down and authorities in the country have been unable to say definitively who was responsible, though on Monday the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, pointed the finger at Russia.
“The authorities cannot conclude who is behind the hybrid attacks. But we can state that there is primarily one country that poses a threat to Europe’s security – and that is Russia,” she said on social media.
Danish forces have so far failed to shoot down any of the drones, which would allow an examination of the wreckage. Zelenskyy indicated that there was growing evidence they were being launched from tankers in the Baltic, which would leave Denmark and other nearby countries little time to respond.
“If tankers used by Russia are serving as drone platforms, then such tankers should not be free to operate in the Baltic. This is de facto Russia’s military activity against European countries, so Europe has the right to close straits and sea routes to protect itself,” the Ukrainian leader told the conference in Warsaw.
The UK, France, Germany and Sweden said on Monday they would help Denmark increase its security during two European summits in Copenhagen this week. The capital is due to host EU leaders on Wednesday and the wider 47-member European Political Community on Thursday.
Britain has also sent a counter drone system to Denmark, defence secretary John Healey said at a fringe event the UK Labour party conference.
Germany said it would send 40 soldiers to Denmark to help detect, identify and counter drones, while France will deploy a military helicopter plus another 35 troops. Sweden said it would sent a counter drone system plus extra radars, as well as additional police to enhance security on the ground.
Romania’s defence minister, Ionut Moșteanu, told the meeting in Warsaw that new drone fragments were found on Monday near Tulcea, a city just over four miles from the Ukrainian border. A fortnight ago, Romania said a Shahed attack drone had crossed into its airspace for 50 minutes, before flying back into Ukraine.
A few days earlier, about 20 unarmed Russian Geran decoy drones crossed into Poland forcing the closure of four airports. Three or four drones were shot down after Polish and Dutch jets were scrambled to respond to the situation, a relatively low proportion compared with what Ukraine achieves, although there were no casualties.
On Saturday night and Sunday morning Ukraine suffered a 12-hour bombardment from Russia. It shot down or otherwise neutralised 566 out of 593 Russian attack or decoy drones, according to figures provided by the country’s air force.
