The United States will support North Atlantic Alliance partners facing incidents like Russian drones at Leipzig airport in Germany. U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said this on September 5 at a business conference in Italy, according to Reuters.
He noted that the incident with unmanned aircraft that occurred in Germany in early August raises more concern than other recent Russian UAVs that were heading for Ukraine and went off course, thus ending up in European countries.
"I would call more alarming the hybrid actions, such as what we saw in Leipzig, such as what we saw in Poland. If we can establish who is doing this – as Germany did – we will certainly make it clear that this is unacceptable and that we will not tolerate it," Whitaker said.
Europe is registering an increasing number of cases of sabotage, arson, and cyberattacks that law enforcement and intelligence services suspect Russia of carrying out. The Kremlin is thus attempting to disrupt aid to Ukraine and test how reliable Europe's protection is.
Energy infrastructure next
According to Whitaker, the next targets could be critical infrastructure, particularly energy facilities. National oversight bodies should respond first, but Washington promises support to countries facing hybrid operations.
- On the eve, Foreign Minister Sybiga stated that Russia is already waging war against Europe the way it began aggression against Ukraine in 2014, but Europe can prevent this.
- On August 4, an explosives-laden drone was discovered near a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig airport.
- Danish intelligence stated on September 3 that Russia was planning sabotage at defense enterprises to stop supplies to Ukraine.
- Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on September 5 that since the beginning of 2026, law enforcement in Germany has registered over 165 cases that could be related to sabotage.
Statements of support remain words until a mechanism for quickly establishing the authorship of attacks and a synchronized response to it emerges. The question is whether NATO countries will agree on a common response protocol, or whether each will respond to hybrid provocations on its own.
