Zürcher Nachrichten - EU says Russian 'hybrid attacks' won't halt aid to Ukraine

The Kremlin has over the summer been accused of ratcheting up a sabotage campaign against Ukraine's European backers as Moscow's forces stall on the front line.

German ministers were reported to be about to officially blame the Kremlin for an incident involving an explosive-laden drone at strategic Liepzig airport last month.

"Russia is hitting Europe with a wave of increasingly kinetic hybrid attacks," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said after meeting defence ministers from the bloc in Ireland.

"Russia wants to scare us away from supporting Ukraine. They will not succeed."

But while the EU insists it remains firmly behind Ukraine, it is struggling to help come up with more desperately-needed US-built air defence missiles for Kyiv.

Moscow has taken advantage of Ukraine's low supplies to pummel the country in recent weeks, with another bloody attack overnight.

A barrage of Russian drones and ballistic missiles killed at least 12 people in Kyiv and its region overnight Monday to Tuesday, according to Ukraine, just as children were beginning a new school year.

Kallas said that she had failed to receive any new pledges of interceptor missiles from countries such as Greece and Spain that are believed to be sitting on stockpiles.

"Unfortunately no concrete success today," Kallas said, after Ukraine's new defence minister Yevgeniy Khmara dialled into the discussion.

- 'Not only complain' -

Tuesday's talks will be followed Wednesday by a meeting of EU foreign ministers, with the top diplomats from Ukraine, Britain and Canada set to join as well.

Kallas said that Russia's increasingly brazen attempts to destabilise Europe brought with them a growing "risk" of spilling over into bloodshed.

Fuelling the concerns over Russia's intentions, CIA chief John Ratcliffe paid a surprise visit to Moscow last week, with US media reporting he warned Russia against attacking any NATO country.

EU officials insist they do not believe Moscow is preparing for a military attack any time soon -- but they are bracing for more incidents in the grey zone beneath open conflict.

Lithuania's defence minister Robertas Kuanas told AFP that the EU and NATO needed to take a more muscular approach to dissuade Moscow from such actions.

"Nobody wants to create war, But we need, as organisations, as Europe, as NATO, we need to show our strength and not only complain or just talk, but also use all possible instruments," he said, refusing to go into more detail.

Beyond ramping up intelligence sharing and police cooperation, the EU is trying to raise the cost of the war for the Kremlin by hitting Moscow with more sanctions.

Brussels has floated plans to add 1,600 more firms and individuals to its already long list of Russians sanctioned over the war.

Meanwhile, discussion has resurfaced on whether the bloc should tap some 200 billion euros ($235 billion) of frozen Russian central bank assets to fund Ukraine.

A proposal to use the funds failed last year after opposition from Belgium, where the bulk of the assets are held, and the EU came up with a 90 billion euro loan for Kyiv off its own back.

But there is already a sense that the money might not last the two years it was intended for and the EU may need to find a way sooner or later to use the immobilised Russian funds.

S.Scheidegger--NZN