EU leaders in Denmark talk drone defense, Ukraine funding

A Ukrainian man arrested in Poland on Tuesday in connection with the 2022 undersea attack on the Nord Stream pipelines will remain in custody while a decision is made whether to transfer him to Germany.

The suspect, identified as Volodymyr Z., is said to be a diving instructor based in Poland who was part of a six-member group that hired a yacht in the German port city of Rostock.

The vessel was then alleged to have sailed to a point in the Baltic Sea above the pipelines.

German prosecutors say explosives were placed on the gas pipes and detonated, damaging three of the four conduits in the Nord Stream project.

"He is detained for seven days, and it is difficult to agree with this decision," the suspect's lawyer, Tymoteusz Paprocki, told reporters.

"I do not accept this decision, and we will certainly appeal," he said.

According to a maritime website, a tanker from Russia's so-called "shadow fleet," which is suspected of being involved in the numerous drone flight sightings across Denmark sailed off the European country's coast recently.

Analysis from VesselFinder, carried out by AFP, showed the tanker sailed off the Danish coast between September 22-25.

The Benin-flagged vessel is blacklisted by the European Union for allegedly being part of Russia's "shadow fleet," which violates sanctions put on Moscow by the EU.

It has since been immobilised for several days off the French coast.

French President Emmanuel Macron said shooting down a Russian warplane if it entered European airspace was not out of the realm of possibility.

In an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on the question of whether he was in favor of shooting down a Russian jet that breaches European airspace, Macron said, "In accordance with the doctrine of strategic ambiguity, I can tell you that nothing is ruled out."

Earlier in the interview, Macron said, "Russia is the greatest structural threat to Europeans."

Russia has been blamed for drone incursions into NATO members Poland and Romania and Macron last week said the military alliance's response would have to "go up a notch" in the case of "new provocations" from Moscow.

Later during talks in Copenhagen, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc was being tested by Moscow.

"We see that Russia is testing our resolve. These are times where it is absolutely paramount that we have this common sense of urgency and unity to address these challenges," von der Leyen said.

There was broad support for a "drone wall" to help improve air defense in the face of Russian incursions.

"We have to improve our equipment collectively and cooperate to have early warning systems, much more anti-drone systems, and much more capacities as well to deter our enemies," Macron said at the talks.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said the war in Ukraine, coupled with what she called a "hybrid" war on Europe, makes the current situation the most perilous since World War II.

"I think we are in the most difficult and dangerous situation since the end of the Second World War, not the Cold War anymore," Frederiksen said, arriving at an EU summit in Copenhagen.

"If you look at Russia and (its) hybrid war from a European perspective instead of from your own national perspective, then I think everybody has to be on the same page that we have to rearm all of us," she said.

She described Moscow's invasion of Ukraine as not simply a conflict in a European country, "but as a Russian attempt to threaten all of us."

Frederiksen said the variety of methods used in hybrid warfare made it difficult for countries to defend themselves.

 "Hybrid war is about threatening us and committing all different kinds of crimes and activities all the time," she added.

Her remarks come after a series of drone sightings in several European countries, including Denmark, with authorities suspecting Russian involvement in most cases, as well as incursions by Russian fighter jets into Estonian airspace.

 

Floods caused by heavy rain have killed at least nine people, including a child, in Ukraine's southern port city of Odesa, which has also been a frequent target of Russian attacks during Moscow's ongoing invasion.

Announcing the deaths on X, formerly Twitter, President Volodymr Zelenskyy described the situation as "horrific."

Authorities said nearly two months' worth of rain fell in just seven hours.

Altogether 362 people were rescued from the surging waters, emergency workers said.

The bad weather is set to continue on Thursday, meteorologists said.

The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine does not pose an immediate risk, despite it having been without power for more than a week, as long as its generators keep working, the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA said late Tuesday.

"While the plant is currently coping thanks to its emergency diesel generators — the last line of defense — and there is no immediate danger as long as they keep working, it is clearly not a sustainable situation in terms of nuclear safety," IAEA head Rafael Grossi said in a statement.

In the statement, the IAEA said the plant's management had told it that the site still had fuel reserves for more than 10 days of operation with the backup of supplies from outside.

The plant, Europe's largest, lost power on September 23, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr on Tuesday calling the situation there "critical" amid what is the longest of the 10 outages from the grid it has had since being seized by Russian forces.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that "the Russian side is ensuring safety at the station," while blaming Ukraine for shelling the site.

Kyiv accuses Russian forces of doing the same thing, which Peskov dismissed as ridiculous in view of the fact that Russia controls the plant.

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, the facility, which is situated near the frontl line, has seen several safety threats, including frequent nearby shelling, repeated power cuts and staff shortages. 

EU leaders are gathering in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, for talks on boosting Europe's defenses and Ukraine's financial stability.

The agenda will include discussions on establishing a "drone wall" as a defense against the threat posed by Russia, which is suspected to be behind recent drone flights in Denmark that followed air incursions by Moscow in Poland and Estonia.

Brussels has also suggested that the bloc unite behind defense projects that include securing its eastern flank, establishing better missile defenses and a space "shield" as part of efforts to get ready for a potential conflict with Russia by 2030.

Leaders will also examine a proposal from Brussels to use frozen Russian central bank assets to back a new €140 billion ($164 billion) loan for Kyiv to assist it in its fight against the ongoing Russian invasion.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz last week spoke out in favor of the plan after Berlin initially displayed reluctance to use the funds, citing legal and financial concerns.

The summit is taking place after unidentified drones were sighted around airports and military sites in the Denmark, raising fears that Russia might be escalating its attempts to undermine security in Europe.

The meeting is being convened amid tight security, with thousands of police on high alert and a ban on civilian drones in place.

Neighboring countries as well as allies from the US to Ukraine have sent anti-drone technology to Denmark ahead of the talks to bolster the country's defense capabilities.

Denmark currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.

DW brings you the latest headlines from and connected with Ukraine as Moscow's full-scale invasion continues to wreak devastation on its neighbor more than 3 1/2 years after it was launched.

EU leaders will be discussing how to deal with the growing threat posed by drones, now a mainstay of modern warfare, at a meeting in Denmark, where several of the unmanned aircraft have been sighted in recent days.

They will also be talking about ways of bolstering Kyiv's financial situation under the strain of war, with US support rapidly waning under the leadership of President Donald Trump.

Follow here for coverage of what is Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.