New drone sightings over Europe were reported as the European Union moved forward with plans to create a "drone wall," amid fears of intensified Russian "hybrid warfare" tactics.
Early on September 27, the day after EU defense ministers met to discuss anti-drone measures, Danish military officials said unidentified drones were observed over the country's military sites.
"Drones were observed at several Danish defense locations last night," the Danish Armed Forces said, adding that the incident prompted the deployment of "several capabilities."
NATO, meanwhile, on September 27 said it was upgrading its presence in the region and would "conduct even more enhanced vigilance with new multi-domain assets in the Baltic Sea region." The alliance said details would be kept secret.
Various media outlets across Europe also reported unidentified drone activity over critical infrastructure in Sweden, Finland, and Lithuania.
In Estonia's Luitemaa Nature Reserve, located in the country's southwest, a local resident found a drone fragment that may have washed ashore from the sea, local media reported.
The new incidents across Europe followed earlier drone incursions near Danish airports and critical infrastructure this week, which country's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said was "the most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date."
'Russia Is Testing The EU And NATO'
Defense ministers from countries on the EU's eastern flank discussed the development of advanced detection, tracking, and interception capabilities at a virtual meeting on September 26. Representatives of Ukraine and NATO also took part.
"Russia is testing the EU and NATO," EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius told reporters in Finland after EU defense ministers met on September 26.
"Our response must be firm, united, and immediate," he added.
Kubilius said participants agreed to move from "discussions to concrete actions" and EU members would examine how to create infrastructure and find funding to "make the shield a reality."
"Today's meeting was a milestone -- now we focus on delivery," he said, adding that the shield could take a year to build and an "effective detection system" is the top priority.
Finland, Poland, and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have been working on a drone wall project, but the EU's executive branch rejected an Estonian-Lithuanian request for funds earlier this year.
A series of incursions this month has added urgency to the issue.
On September 10, NATO jets shot down several of the roughly 20 Russian drones Polish officials said breached the country's airspace during attacks on Ukraine, which is the target of near-daily Russian drone and missile barrages.
Days later, Romania reported a similar incursion near the Danube delta.
On September 22, drones forced hours-long closures at Copenhagen Airport and also briefly shut Oslo's main aviation hub. More sightings later disrupted airports in the Danish cities of Aalborg and Billund and appeared near military sites.
On September 27, officials and news outlets reported new sightings of unidentified drones near or over several military sites including Denmark's biggest base, Karup, where police said multiple drones were observed late the previous evening.
Numerous Western officials have said they believe Moscow is behind the incursions.
"The hybrid war is ongoing, and all countries in the European Union will experience it," Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters in Warsaw after the talks, which included representatives from Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Denmark.
"The threat from the Russian Federation is serious. We must respond to it in a very radical manner," he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking at the United Nations on September 27, warned NATO and the EU that "any aggression against my country will be met with a decisive response."
Officials in Europe worry that by deploying cheap drones to harass airports and airbases, Russia can force governments to implement costly defensive responses, unsettle civilians, and probe defense vulnerabilities without triggering open conflict.
Danish and regional media reported that a Russian Ropucha-class landing ship, the Aleksandr Shabalin, was filmed by helicopter loitering roughly 12 kilometers off the Danish island of Langeland during the wave of Scandinavian drone sightings. The ship reportedly had its transponder switched off.
Officials have not publicly tied the vessel to the incursions, but the timing and proximity have sharpened suspicion that some launches could be sea-based.
Russia has denied involvement.
Experts say Europe's civil–military airspace is vulnerable and that consumer-grade or custom drones can be flown from land or sea just outside protected zones, dipping into airport approach corridors or skimming over bases to create diversions, delays, and security scares.
