An explosive-laden drone found at Leipzig-Halle Airport has raised new questions about how exposed European countries are to hybrid attacks. The airport is one of NATO’s main logistics hubs, and German authorities have concluded this was no amateur job, with every indication pointing to Russia.
In an interview for TVP World, Sahaidachnyi Security Center Senior Fellow Olena Davlikanova argues that Russia is already waging a full-scale subthreshold war against Europe, and that Europe has not yet learned to respond to it.
Germany is one of the main targets. In 2026 alone, 166 drone incidents were recorded in the country. This war is not confined to NATO’s north-eastern flank: acts of sabotage have been reported across Europe.
“Russia has crossed all the red lines when it comes to breaching European security, probing for weak points and preparing for an attack that would test NATO’s Article 5,” Olena Davlikanova said.
Sahaidachnyi Security Center follows this activity through the Everywhere War Tracker, an interactive map of incidents in the Russia–EU subthreshold war since 2022, covering the land, sea, air, cyber and cognitive domains.
Olena Davlikanova also cautions against reading Russian actions as a response to support for Ukraine in a war Russia itself started without provocation. Moscow’s aim is not the occupation of Ukraine alone, but the restoration of its status as the continent’s hegemon through coercion and intimidation.
The policy of pacifying Russia through economic integration has failed. Any attempt to rebuild cooperation or reconstruct Russia in the event of a ceasefire, whenever it comes, would give the Kremlin more resources for its strategic goals in Europe. New technologies allow it to cross any border, both for subthreshold kinetic operations and for cognitive warfare unconstrained by moral limits, as communications from officers of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service make clear.
By the account of Russia’s own military leadership, the so-called special military operation is uniting the Russian people, and operations against the “hostile West” will continue even after the fighting in Ukraine stops.
Ukraine, then, is not the source of Europe’s security problems — those lie in the imperial ambitions of the Russian elite — but part of the solution. Europe’s drone wall concept in its current form looks like an off-the-shelf answer to a problem that has none. What is required is a networked command system capable of detection and cost-effective response, not only at the borders but deep behind them. Ukrainian expertise is essential here: buying large quantities of counter-drone equipment that goes out of date quickly does not solve the problem.
She also points to how quickly Russia is building its own satellite network. Rassvet will give it Starlink-like capabilities and widen the range of operations it can run over the medium term.
The most important step, in Olena Davlikanova’s view, is for Europe to change how it defines the situation.
“Europe has to stop hiding from reality. Since 2024, after adapting to the failure of its blitzkrieg and holding a ritual vote at the so-called presidential election, Russia has escalated its subthreshold war. Russia is at war with Europe and says so openly,” she said, calling for a “joint, very clear strategy” for dealing with Russia and for sustained support for Ukraine, “which remains the main frontier holding back major Russian forces.”
For more insights, watch the full interview on TVP World.