COPENHAGEN: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Europe on Thursday that recent drone incursions demonstrated Russia’s intention to escalate its aggression.
He offered his country’s war-honed expertise to help counter the threat during a summit of European leaders from nearly 50 countries.
The leaders gathered at a Copenhagen conference centre under tight security following mysterious drone flights that rattled Denmark last month.
Drone sightings in Denmark and high-profile aerial incursions by Moscow in Estonia and Poland have heightened fears that Russia’s assault on Ukraine could spill over Europe’s borders.
Zelensky stated that the recent drone incidents across Europe clearly indicated Russia still felt bold enough to escalate this war.
He emphasised that Russia’s ambitions extended beyond Ukraine and always aimed to break the West and Europe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the accusations while stating Russia was closely monitoring Europe’s rising militarisation.
Putin declared that Moscow’s response would be timely and significant while accusing Europe of stoking hysteria to excuse increased military spending.
The Russian leader insisted his country posed no threat and told European leaders to just calm down.
European leaders expressed keen interest in collaborating with Ukraine’s war-tested expertise as they seek to bolster their own defences.
They discussed plans for a drone wall to counter the menace from Moscow during the Copenhagen summit.
Zelensky warned that Russian drones targeting Poland or violating northern European airspace meant this could happen anywhere.
He affirmed Ukraine’s readiness to share this experience with our partners.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Western countries should adopt a tougher stance when confronting Russian drones to sow doubt in the Kremlin.
Macron stressed the importance of having a clear message that drones violating territories would take a big risk and could be destroyed.
Romanian Prime Minister Nicosur Dan warned that his forces would shoot down the next Russian drone violating their airspace after previous incursions from Ukraine.
As Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine continues through a fourth year, Europe is scrambling to maintain pressure on Moscow and secure funding for Kyiv.
Macron highlighted the crucial need to step up efforts against Russia’s shadow fleet of ageing oil tankers to kill its business model for circumventing oil export restrictions.
He stated that increasing pressure on this shadow fleet would clearly reduce Russia’s capacity to finance its war effort.
Macron pointed to France’s recent move to hold a blacklisted tanker linked to Russia as evidence of this approach.
The European Union is exploring a proposal to use frozen Russian assets to fund a new 140 billion euro loan for Ukraine.
Proponents argue this move is necessary to help Ukraine address budget shortfalls with Russia rather than European taxpayers ultimately footing the bill.
Belgium maintains deep reservations about the plan since it holds the vast majority of frozen Russian assets.
Some leaders fear the proposal could spook other investors or provoke Russian retaliation against Belgium.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever described the proposal as moving to uncharted waters that is very, very risky.
He insisted on obtaining clear commitments from all EU leaders to share potential liability and shield Belgium from Russian retribution.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen stated that risk should not fall only on Belgium’s shoulders and would intensify talks on the proposal. – AFP