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Zelensky: Europe needs defenses capable of withstanding drones

2025-10-02 18:48:33, Kosova & Bota CNA

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned European leaders on Thursday that Russia has the ability to violate airspace anywhere on the continent, and called on them to develop defensive forces to repel drones.

"If the Russians dare to launch drones against Poland, or violate the airspace of northern European countries, it means it can happen anywhere," Zelensky told European leaders gathered at a security and defense summit in Copenhagen.

"In Western Europe, in the south, we need rapid response and effective defense forces that know how to deal with drones," he added.

The European Political Community summit comes after the appearance of drones in Denmark, which forced the closure of Copenhagen Airport on September 22, as well as after several violations of the airspace of European countries by Russian drones.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who is hosting the meeting, said that Ukraine is the world's leading expert on anti-drone defense, and advised other European countries to "take all the experience, new technology and innovations from Ukraine and put them into our rearmament process."

Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, whose country has also recently experienced drone incidents that disrupted air traffic, said European countries are learning "very difficult lessons" from Ukraine's experience in dealing with Russian drones.

"We need to improve our intelligence capacity. We need to strengthen cooperation between the police and the military, and we are working on that," Store said.

NATO chief Mark Rutte said Ukraine is a "great power" in counter-drone technology, and added that it is sharing technologies and knowledge gained during the war with Denmark, Poland and NATO in general.

Shortly before the start of the Copenhagen meeting, Russia continued its attacks on its western neighbor, striking a railway depot in Odessa.

Oleksiy Kuleba, Ukraine's Minister of Territorial Development, said this was another example of Russia's efforts to "destroy one of the foundations of Ukraine's stability" by targeting infrastructure.

He also noted that missile and drone attacks were also reported in the Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions.

Frederiksen previously called the violation of airspace by drones "hybrid warfare," stressing that she sees Ukraine as the "first line of defense."

"From a European perspective, there is only one country that is willing to threaten us, and that is Russia, so we need a very strong response," she said before the meeting.

The Copenhagen summit takes place at a time when the prospects for peace seem more remote than ever, as Russia's full-scale occupation of Ukraine approaches its fourth year.

While US efforts to broker a peace deal have yielded little progress, Ukraine and Russia's positions remain sharply opposed.

US President Donald Trump has so far failed to organize a trilateral summit or a face-to-face meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine.

The two sides have agreed to occasional prisoner exchanges, and another exchange took place on October 2. Russia's Defense Ministry said on Telegram that 185 Russian soldiers had returned, adding that 20 civilians were also released as part of the exchange.

Zelensky also confirmed the exchange, publishing photos of the freed Ukrainians wrapped in Ukrainian flags.

"We are bringing home 185 of our defenders from Russian captivity. One hundred and eighty-three are soldiers and sergeants, and two are officers," Zelensky said on X.

He added that 20 civilians are also returning home./REL