By Illia Novikov
Associated Press
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian military is sharing with European countries its expertise in fighting Russian drones, sending a mission to Denmark for joint exercises, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday.
“Our military has begun deploying a mission in Denmark to disseminate Ukrainian experience in drone defense,” Zelenskyy said.
European defense ministers agreed last week to build what they called a “drone wall” along their borders with Russia and Ukraine to better detect, track and intercept drones violating Europe’s airspace.
Europe’s readiness and technology are lagging far behind Ukraine and Russia, however, as cutting-edge drone warfare has become a hallmark of their three-year war since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.
“Ukrainian (drone) experience is the most relevant in Europe right now, and it is our experience, our specialists, and our technologies that could become a key element of the future European ‘drone wall’ — a large-scale project that will guarantee safety in the sky,” Zelenskyy added in a post on Telegram.
Denmark has in recent days reported drone sightings at military facilities and over Danish airports.
Danish intelligence officials, though careful not to directly accuse a specific country, said they regarded the risk of Russian espionage and sabotage in Denmark as high.
Poland has also turned to Ukraine for expertise after Russian drones entered Polish airspace.
“The results of the (Ukrainian) mission in Denmark will shape the framework for cooperation with other European countries as well,” Zelenskyy said.
The NATO military alliance is troubled, too, by European airspace violations by Russia warplanes that are further straining relations with Moscow and fueling fears that the fighting could spill beyond Ukraine’s borders.
At the same time, there is uncertainty about peace negotiations that were set in motion by the United States months ago but appear to be making no headway.
Ahead of two summits in the Danish capital Copenhagen this week, NATO is stepping up aerial surveillance in the Baltic Sea, while France, Germany and Sweden are bolstering Denmark’s air defenses.
A family of four killed in a Russian strike
A Russian drone strike killed an entire family of four in a village in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region overnight, authorities said. The family was made up of a young married couple and their two sons, aged 4 and 6, regional administration head Oleh Hryhorov wrote on Telegram.
“This is a terrible and irreparable loss for the entire community and the region,” Hryhorov said. “The death of the family … is a tragedy we will never forget or forgive.”
One person was also killed by a Russian drone strike on the city of Dnipro Tuesday afternoon, local Gov. Serhii Lysak said. At least another 20 were injured, he wrote in a post on Telegram.
Commenting on the attack, Zelenskyy said that such strikes showed that “all of us in Europe must build a reliable defense against Russian drones and missiles — so that no country stands alone against this threat.”
Reacting to European plans to build a “drone wall” to protect itself from Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that “history shows that building walls is always bad.”
“We are continuing to see such militarist approach instead of thinking how to engage in a dialogue and jointly search for security guarantees,” he told reporters.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.