EU nations boost drone defense, pledge more US weapons for Ukraine

BERLIN — Top officials from Europe’s five largest military spenders met in Berlin today to reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine’s defense and announce a number of measures designed to strengthen Europe’s eastern flank.

Among the planned moves is the deployment of counter-drone forces to Finland and Belgium and new military and financial support for Ukraine, defense leaders from Germany, the U.K., France, Poland, Italy and the EU announced today.

Germany committed to delivering at least €150 million ($175 million) in U.S.-made military equipment to Kyiv under a program designed to make available to Ukraine weapons that only America produces. This is on top of German military aid for Ukraine approved by the country’s parliament this week.

In 2026, Germany plans to spend €11.5 billion ($13.4 billion) to support the Eastern European nation – €3 billion more than in the current year.

A key topic of discussion among the so-called Group of Five was the escalating hybrid warfare that Europe has observed in the form of sabotage, unidentified drone sightings, cyber warfare and airspace incursions, among other tactics.

“We are faced with multiple threats,” Polish State Secretary Paweł Zalewski said. “And Russia is the originator of these.”

British Secretary of State for Defence John Healey said his country had joined Germany in sending military advisers to Belgium last weekend to assist in combating the sudden influx of unidentified drones over that country. The U.K. has also deployed anti-drone combat units to Finland on NATO’s northeastern flank, Healey revealed. Finland shares the longest border with Russia of any NATO country.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that his country, too, remains deployed in Belgium with “anti-drone troops” of the German air force that had been moved there on just a few hours’ notice. He made a connection between the ongoing discussions to use frozen Russian assets held in Belgium to support Ukraine and the emergence of the mysterious drone threat.

Drone defense is set to remain a key topic for the five leading European military nations. Pistorius said work is underway to present a signature-ready proposal for cost-effective drone defense at the ministers’ next meeting, scheduled to take place in Warsaw early in the new year.

Meanwhile, the officials shared intelligence according to which 93% of Russian strikes in Ukraine hit civilian targets. The estimate was mentioned on three separate occasions by the Italian and German defense ministers, as well as the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas.

A full and immediate ceasefire remains the bloc’s goal, Kallas said. But “Russia does not want to negotiate at all,” she added.

Kallas raised the possibility of confiscating frozen Russian state assets in Western banks. “Ukraine will need funding next year,” she said, and “ using immobilized Russian assets is the most clear-cut way.”

Domestically, the EU is developing plans to improve roads, railways and bridges to facilitate military mobility, Kallas said, with Brussels coordinating closely with NATO to meet collective objectives.

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

柏林——欧洲五大军费开支国的最高官员今天在柏林举行会议，重申他们对乌克兰国防的承诺，并宣布了一系列旨在加强欧洲东翼的措施。

德国、英国、法国、波兰、意大利和欧盟的国防领导人今天宣布，计划采取的措施包括向芬兰和比利时部署反无人机部队，以及向乌克兰提供新的军事和财政支持。

根据一项旨在向乌克兰提供仅美国生产的武器的计划，德国承诺向基辅提供至少价值1.5亿欧元（1.75亿美元）的美国制造的军事装备。这笔款项是在德国本周批准的对乌克兰军事援助之外的额外援助。

2026年，德国计划花费115亿欧元（134亿美元）支持这个东欧国家——比今年多出30亿欧元。

所谓“五国集团”讨论的一个关键议题是欧洲观察到的不断升级的混合战争，其形式包括破坏、不明无人机目击事件、网络战和空域入侵等。

波兰国务秘书帕维尔·扎列夫斯基表示：“我们面临多重威胁，而俄罗斯正是这些威胁的始作俑者。”

英国国防大臣约翰·希利表示，英国已于上周末与德国一道向比利时派遣军事顾问，协助应对该国上空突然出现的大量不明无人机。希利还透露，英国已向北约东北翼的芬兰部署了反无人机作战部队。芬兰与俄罗斯接壤的边界线是北约成员国中最长的。

德国国防部长鲍里斯·皮斯托里乌斯表示，德国空军的“反无人机部队”也已部署在比利时，这些部队是在接到通知后几个小时内被调往那里的。他将目前正在进行的关于动用冻结在比利时的俄罗斯资产支持乌克兰的讨论，与神秘无人机威胁的出现联系起来。

无人机防御仍将是欧洲五大军事强国关注的重点议题。皮斯托里乌斯表示，各方正在努力准备一份经济高效的无人机防御方案，以便在新年伊始于华沙举行的下次会议上提交签署。

与此同时，官员们分享的情报显示，俄罗斯在乌克兰发动的空袭中，93%击中了平民目标。意大利和德国国防部长以及欧盟外交与安全政策高级代表卡娅·卡拉斯都曾三次提及这一估计。

卡拉斯表示，全面立即停火仍然是该联盟的目标。但她补充说，“俄罗斯根本不想谈判”。

卡拉斯提出了没收西方银行冻结的俄罗斯国有资产的可能性。她说：“乌克兰明年需要资金，而利用被冻结的俄罗斯资产是最直接有效的方法。”

卡拉斯表示，欧盟正在国内制定计划，改善道路、铁路和桥梁，以便利军事机动性，布鲁塞尔正与北约密切协调，以实现共同目标。

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。