Europe’s top defense officials gathered in Berlin this week for what many described as their most urgent coordination meeting in a year, underscoring the continent’s growing anxiety over the war in Ukraine and the evolving hybrid threats posed by Russia. The defense ministers and top representatives from Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Poland, Italy, and the European Union convened with a singular mission: to reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine’s defense and to chart a path forward as the conflict enters a new, more unpredictable phase.
The Berlin summit came amid a sharp escalation in both military and non-traditional threats. According to Defense News, the ministers’ agenda was dominated by two interconnected crises. First, the need to provide Ukraine with immediate military and financial support as Russian strikes intensify. Second, the alarming surge in hybrid warfare tactics—most notably, a wave of unidentified drone incursions that have disrupted airports and military sites across northern Europe, exposing new vulnerabilities in the continent’s airspace and infrastructure.
Germany, taking a leading role, announced a substantial new military aid package for Ukraine. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius revealed that Berlin will deliver at least €150 million (about $175 million) worth of U.S.-made military equipment to Kyiv, a move that supplements additional aid approved by the German parliament earlier in the week. “A prominent example are the Patriot systems and, above all, the aircraft carriers for them,” Pistorius said, as reported by Courthouse News. This commitment forms part of a broader pledge: Germany plans to invest €11.5 billion ($13.4 billion) in Ukraine by 2026, an increase of €3 billion compared to this year. Since Russia’s invasion in 2022, German military support has reached roughly €40 billion, second only to the United States.
The urgency of these commitments was underscored by the events of the past week. On November 14, Russia launched a massive attack on Ukraine, firing 430 drones and 18 ballistic missiles at Kyiv and other cities. According to Courthouse News, four people were killed in the capital, and dozens of residential buildings were damaged. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the bombardment as “deliberately calculated” to inflict maximum civilian harm. The attacks have also targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, with former Energy Minister Olga Bohuslavets warning, “It is already clear that this winter will be much harder than all previous ones.” Ukraine reportedly lost 60% of its natural gas production capacity in October, forcing the country to spend nearly €2 billion on emergency imports to survive the coming winter.
Intelligence shared by the Italian and German defense ministers and the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, revealed a grim statistic: 93% of Russian strikes in Ukraine have targeted civilian infrastructure. The EU’s goal remains a full and immediate ceasefire, but Kallas was blunt in her assessment: “Russia does not want to negotiate at all.”
As the war grinds on, European leaders are increasingly concerned about their own security. The Berlin meeting placed a spotlight on the rise of hybrid warfare tactics across the continent. Since September, drones have shut down airports in Brussels and Liège multiple times, evading all countermeasures, including jammers and helicopter pursuit, and even flying over Kleine Brogel military base—where U.S. nuclear weapons are reportedly stored under NATO arrangements. Similar incursions have been reported in Denmark, Germany, Norway, and Sweden, according to Courthouse News. Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken called the intrusions “not the work of amateurs,” noting that the drones flew at high altitudes and evaded all defenses. In response, Belgium has convened its National Security Council and will launch a National Airspace Security Center by January 1, 2026.
To counter these threats, the UK extended deployment of its drone experts from Denmark to Belgium and Finland, which shares the longest border with Russia of any NATO country. Germany also deployed anti-drone troops to Belgium on short notice. British Secretary of State for Defence John Healey warned, “The threats against our nations and against Europe have only increased, with reckless drone incursions into Poland, Russian jets flying over Estonia.” The Group of Five agreed that a cost-effective drone defense proposal will be presented at their next meeting in Warsaw, scheduled for early 2026.
Behind the scenes, the drone incursions are believed to be part of a broader Russian strategy. Sven Biscop of the Egmont Institute in Brussels told Courthouse News that Russia’s motives are likely multifaceted: “There’s classic espionage, certainly where military hardware is concerned. There’s the attempt to test our defenses. There’s also the attempt to influence public opinion, to influence government decisionmaking.” The drones, he said, are “relatively low cost” but can have “great effects.” Some are believed to be launched from Russia’s shadow fleet of ships—vessels that evade sanctions by disguising ownership and disabling tracking—or by locals recruited to carry out attacks. “They’re expendable for the Russians,” Biscop added.
Yet, as Europe’s defense budgets have nearly doubled from €218 billion in 2021 to an expected €392 billion in 2025, according to European Commission figures, the bloc still struggles with threats that Ukraine handles routinely on a much smaller budget. Ukrainian forces reportedly shoot down the vast majority of incoming drones with equipment that costs a fraction of what European nations spend.
The financial front is proving just as contentious as the military one. A €140 billion loan to Ukraine, backed by frozen Russian assets held by Brussels-based clearinghouse Euroclear, is currently blocked by Belgium. The assets, immobilized after Russia’s 2022 invasion, are seen as a lifeline for Kyiv, which faces a cash crunch by April 2026. The International Monetary Fund has stated it will not release its own $8 billion in aid until the EU commits the Russian assets. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever on November 14 to urge approval of the loan, but Belgium is demanding guarantees that EU countries will jointly repay the loan if the assets are returned to Russia. Kaja Kallas argued, “Using immobilized Russian assets is the most clear-cut way to sustain Ukraine’s defense. It is also the way to show Russia that time is not on their side.”
Italy, for its part, will deliver generators to Ukraine from its €100 million civilian aid package to help the country navigate winter energy shortages, as Russian attacks on the energy grid intensify. Meanwhile, the EU is developing plans to upgrade roads, railways, and bridges to boost military mobility, with Brussels working closely with NATO to align on collective objectives. A new anti-drone system, led by the Netherlands and Latvia, is proposed to be operational by the end of 2027, but the Belgian chaos has raised doubts about whether that timeline is realistic.
The Berlin summit ended with a strong sense of resolve but also a clear-eyed recognition of the challenges ahead. As Europe’s defense leaders prepare for their next meeting in Warsaw, the continent remains on high alert, determined to support Ukraine and to adapt to a rapidly changing security landscape—one where the next threat may come not from tanks, but from the silent whir of a drone overhead.
