Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General, speaking at a joint press conference with the Prime Minister of Lithuania, Mindaugas Sinkevičius, at NATO Headquarters, described how the Alliance is adapting its air defences to counter drone incursions along its eastern flank.
NATO defends every inch of Allied territory against any threat from any direction. Just two weeks ago, Italian jets deployed by NATO from Šiauliai Air Base shot down a drone that violated Lithuania’s airspace. This is collective defence in action.
The repeated drone incidents along our eastern flank show the evolving nature of the threat, and we are strengthening our integrated air and missile defence, a multi-layered, 360-degree approach that gives us greater protection against the full range of airborne threats. Through initiatives such as Drone Edge, we are adapting and reinforcing our posture against drones. We will strengthen cheaper counter drone defences, so we are not using high-end jets against low-cost threats. NATO will continue to build the shield that protects the skies over Lithuania, the Baltic region, and, of course, beyond.
NATO is also with you in the Baltic Sea, and with NATO Forward Land Forces based in Lithuania. You are investing heavily in the development of the Rūdninkai Training Area, the largest military infrastructure project in your country’s history to host these troops.
Lithuania leads by example on defence investment. This year, you are expected to reach 5.38% of GDP for core defence spending. Lithuania doesn’t just meet its commitments; it sets the standards.
On Ukraine, Lithuania’s committed at least 0.25% of GDP annually in military assistance, with a clear focus on air defence and ammunition. You are also spearheading practical industrial cooperation, having already contributed $38 million directly into Ukraine’s defence industry and advancing joint production.
Prime Minister, you were recently yourself in Ukraine, and I welcome Lithuania’s commitment to support Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of winter and provide other help, including with railway locomotives.
Russia continues its reckless campaign of hostile actions against NATO Allies. It is trying to weaken our resolve and stop our support for Ukraine. But Russia is failing. It is failing on the battlefield in Ukraine, and it is failing to undermine our unity and support for Ukraine. Our message to Moscow is clear: we will do even more for Ukraine, and not less…
Asked during the press conference whether NATO should stop using the word “hybrid” to describe Russia’s campaign of sabotage, cyberattacks and airspace incursions against Allied territory, Rutte defended the Alliance’s approach and outlined the response options available to it.
…Well, first on the word hybrid, I’ve said as many times before. It sounds a bit ‘cuddly’, and in the end, these are grey zone tactics, and what we are seeing these can be drones, or sabotage, or even cyber attacks. But hey, we have all the response options we need. You will not always see them public. They will not always be symmetric. It will not always be tit for tat. But we have the response options we need. You have seen that in the past. For example, when it came to the cutting of the undersea sea cable between Finland and Estonia in the late 2024, we launched Baltic Sentry, which is protecting our vital undersea infrastructure. And from Baltic Sentry, more and more what we are seeing is Allies, and so this was symmetric. Asymmetric is what happened after that. Also visible, that more and more Allies are making it more difficult for Russia’s shadow fleet to function. We have Allies like Sweden and the United Kingdom and Belgium and France. The French President has taken the whole initiative on this in October last year, working on the shadow fleet and making sure that these leaking old ships are not providing Russia with money. More generally speaking, I would urge some calm because we are investing in our defence. Russia is not in a good place. Their economy is not in a good place. When you look at Ukraine, they’re losing at the moment over 40,000 a month, dead or seriously wounded, a month. These numbers are staggering. They are huge. Terrible news for the families involved here, obviously. But this also shows you that you have to deal with a president who is willing to sacrifice now up to 1.2 million of his own people in a totally unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine. So, some calm is in place here, but also carry on. Carry on with the investments like the Lithuanian government is doing and the rest of NATO is doing at the moment. Carry on making NATO stronger. And finally, next to calm and carry on, keep the support for Ukraine going because the best response to any action in this grey zone of what Russia is doing is more support for Ukraine instead of less support for Ukraine. Because in the end, what they want to do is divide us and lose focus on Ukraine and start discussing amongst each other what’s happening and why and how does this all fits together? Now calm, carry on and support Ukraine. More support for Ukraine, not less support for Ukraine. Exactly as we are doing, also thanks to European Union, the Ukraine Support Loan, the excellent news that we have now reached the 10 billion threshold when it comes to the PURL money. These are vital stuff from the U.S. into Ukraine, paid for by Canada and European Allies, including here the European Union playing a big role..
Source: NATO.int
