BRUSSELS — The EU and NATO will not back down from supporting Ukraine despite attacks against European countries blamed on Russia, the leaders of the two institutions said Wednesday. The rare joint statement came after Germany said Russia was behind a foiled attack on an airport used as a key logistics hub for military aid to Ukraine. On Tuesday, Berlin attributed an attempted Aug. 4 attack in Leipzig to Russia.
Three drones carrying explosive material were spotted at or near the airport, including one that was found near a Ukrainian Antonov plane used to ship munitions. The remarks underscore growing tensions between Moscow and Ukraine’s Western allies as they increasingly blame Russia for sabotage and other hybrid attacks on their territory while continuing to send military aid to Kyiv. Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia would “adopt much harsher methods to destroy everything that enables the West to fuel Kyiv’s war machine.” Von der Leyen said the EU would send “rapid response teams” to help countries impacted by similar incidents and was “ready to impose” further sanctions against Russia.
The bloc’s foreign ministers, who are meeting in Ireland on Wednesday, will discuss further measures against Moscow, she added. The leaders also signaled that the response to Russian pressure would include more support for Ukraine. Von der Leyen also confirmed EU countries were examining a new payment request of “several billion euros” by Ukraine to fund its air defenses, including buying advanced U.S.-made PAC-3 Patriot interceptors.
Ukraine is complaining of a critical shortage of air defenses that's allowing Russian ballistic missiles to hit targets across the country. The request, first reported by POLITICO, will be examined by Commission experts on Sept. 7.
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