EU defence chief to convene talks on 'drone wall' to protect against Russia

By Andrew Gray

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said on Thursday he plans to convene talks with defence ministers next week on creating a "drone wall" along the EU's eastern border - a project infused with urgency by a Russian drone incursion into Poland.

Kubilius told Reuters that some European Union countries had already been discussing the idea of a line of defence against drones before last week's incursion and the EU's executive arm now wanted to move quickly to turn the concept into reality.

Analysts and officials said the incursion exposed gaps in Europe's and NATO's ability to protect against drones, although Polish and NATO forces shot down several of them.

"We want really to move ahead with very, very intensive and effective preparations to start to fill this gap, which is really very dangerous for us... as quickly as we can do it," Kubilius said in a telephone interview.

Kubilius said he would hold a video conference on the project with Eastern European defence ministers and a representative from Ukraine, which could share lessons from the war triggered by Russia's 2022 invasion.

"I just came back from Kyiv two days ago and we were talking both with the government and also with industry," said Kubilius, a former prime minister of Lithuania who was appointed the EU's first-ever defence commissioner last year.

"They're keen to share their experience and know-how."

Kubilius said discussions were still at an initial stage but he envisioned the project as a mix of sensors and different weapons and jamming systems that would detect and neutralise incoming drones.

He said it was too early to estimate the cost of such a system or how long it would take to set up, although he said some public estimates by analysts suggested it could be done within a year.

Separately, Ukraine's defence minister Denys Shmyhal said on Thursday that Ukrainian troops and engineers will train their Polish counterparts in a joint group on countering drones.

Russia said its forces had been attacking Ukraine at the time of last week's drone incursions and that it had not intended to hit any targets in Poland. Warsaw has rejected that explanation, saying the incursion was a deliberate attack.  

(Reporting by Andrew GrayEditing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Frances Kerry)