The European Union's top diplomat warned on Monday that intelligence shows Russia is preparing a new wave of sabotage acts and attacks against European democracies, as the bloc's defence ministers gathered in Brussels to confront what officials describe as Moscow's escalating shadow war against the West.
"More sabotage acts" in the works
Kaja Kallas, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, issued the warning as she arrived at the Foreign Affairs Council in defence format. "We see in the intelligence that Russia is planning more acts of sabotage and, in fact, attacks against our democracy to divide our society, to intimidate our societies, and to make us stop helping Ukraine," she said.
Kallas said Europe must be able to act on intelligence before attacks happen: "When we have intelligence, we must already be able to react before these attacks take place." Asked whether Europe was prepared for a direct Russian attack, she avoided speculating about conventional war but stressed that member states had "done more to be more resilient" — while adding, bluntly, that vigilance was not optional.
Her warning follows a September address to the European Parliament in which she said Russian hybrid attacks on European soil were increasing and called for a coordinated response from member states.
A shadow campaign below the threshold of war
European ministers have been sounding the same alarm for weeks. Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last week, officials from NATO's eastern flank said Moscow was intensifying sabotage, cyberattacks, drone incursions and other covert operations to frighten Europe into winding down support for Ukraine.
"Europe faces a fast proliferation of sabotage attacks and airspace violations," Kallas told reporters. "Moscow is trying to scare Europe into winding down its support for Ukraine."
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski was even more direct: "They're not just threats; they're actual attacks" — citing arson, explosions, drone incursions and what Warsaw says was a deliberate Russian cruise missile violation of its territory. Poland's army command also reported a Russian Mi-8 helicopter briefly entering Polish airspace from the Kaliningrad exclave.
In Brussels, the ministers discussed an emergency protocol against hybrid attacks — a mechanism to coordinate the European Commission, member states and the EU's diplomatic service when threats fall below the threshold of armed aggression, with tools mapped to escalating levels of danger.
The challenge is not only political. A European Defence Agency preparedness report reviewed at the meeting found that while member states have significantly increased defence investment, "large capability gaps" remain. EU states now collectively spend 2.2 percent of GDP on defence, Kallas said — an effort she argued contributes to deterrence, but the gap between spending and usable capability is where Moscow sees opportunity.
Patriots wanted now, not years from now
Ukraine's own air war topped the agenda alongside the sabotage threat. Kallas said "Ukraine urgently needs air defense" in the wake of fresh Russian attacks on civilians, and pressed European states to hand over systems and missiles sitting in national arsenals now — with replacements ordered later — rather than waiting for future production. In particular, she insisted on making Patriot interceptor missiles already held in European arsenals available to Ukraine while ramping up production of the systems.
But money has not yet turned into missiles. Coverage of Kallas's post-meeting briefing reported that no new pledges of interceptors emerged from the Brussels session, even as the bloc approved loan plans worth 28.3 billion euros under its Ukraine Support Loan — including future Patriot purchases from US production lines. The problem, officials concede, is timing: with manufacturing delays, Kyiv needs interceptors now, not when the next production batches roll off the line. Ministers did agree terms to release 6.6 billion euros through the European Peace Facility, which has been unlocked again with 1 billion euros earmarked for joint weapons purchases.
The urgency is written in the skies over Ukraine. Ukrainian officials say Russia launched more than 2,730 jet-powered drones in September alone, and the air force says jet-drone launches rose eightfold in two months — from 350 in June to 2,850 in August. Ukraine intercepts only about 55 percent of the jet-powered models, compared with more than 90 percent of the old propeller-driven Shaheds — which is why Kyiv treats every interceptor shipment as existential.
Berlin–Moscow talks end with "nothing new"
The Brussels meeting came days after a 22-minute sit-down in New York between German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Russia's Sergey Lavrov — the first meeting between the two countries' top diplomats since the full-scale invasion began. Wadephul urged Moscow to "reject the dangerous path of escalation" against Germany, Europe and NATO.
Lavrov's answer was dismissive: he said he had heard "nothing new" and rejected Germany's allegations of Russian hybrid attacks, claiming instead that Europe was the one preparing for war.
Kallas said the dismissive response showed Moscow was not genuinely interested in peace — and that Russia must first halt its attacks on civilians before any direct negotiations with Ukraine could even be contemplated.
Kallas's warning reframes the war as a continent-wide campaign: grinding pressure on the front lines in Donetsk, a record aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities, and a shadow war of sabotage, cyberattacks and airspace violations aimed at frightening Europe into abandoning Kyiv. Brussels is answering with emergency protocols, unlocked funds and calls for interceptors — but as the empty pledge book on Patriot missiles shows, Europe's answer is still arriving slower than Russia's threat is evolving. For Ukraine, the message from Monday's meeting is double-edged: the diagnosis is finally clear, but the treatment is not yet in hand.
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