BERLIN \u2014 Top officials from Europe\u2019s five largest military spenders met in Berlin today to reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine\u2019s defense and announce a number of measures designed to strengthen Europe\u2019s eastern flank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Germany committed to delivering at least \u20ac150 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\u2019s parliament this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2026, Germany plans to spend \u20ac11.5 billion ($13.4 billion) to support the Eastern European nation \u2013 \u20ac3 billion more than in the current year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are faced with multiple threats,\u201d Polish State Secretary Pawe\u0142 Zalewski said. \u201cAnd Russia is the originator of these.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2019s northeastern flank, Healey revealed. Finland shares the longest border with Russia of any NATO country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that his country, too, remains deployed in Belgium with \u201canti-drone troops\u201d of the German air force that had been moved there on just a few hours\u2019 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2019 next meeting, scheduled to take place in Warsaw early in the new year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2019s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A full and immediate ceasefire remains the bloc\u2019s goal, Kallas said. But \u201cRussia does not want to negotiate at all,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kallas raised the possibility of confiscating frozen Russian state assets in Western banks. \u201cUkraine will need funding next year,\u201d she said, and \u201c using immobilized Russian assets is the most clear-cut way.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Among the planned moves by the so-called Group of Five is the deployment of counter-drone forces to Finland and Belgium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":120245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":46,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,46,11,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3463],"class_list":["post-71783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"4XEWKQWMMRCCRAV672KQYJDQVA","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/europe\/2025\/11\/14\/eu-nations-boost-drone-defense-pledge-more-us-weapons-for-ukraine\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n