Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken told Euronews on Wednesday that Europe faces a “dark winter” of further Russian hybrid attacks. He spoke on the sidelines of the Euronews Defence and Space Summit in Brussels, where officials face pressure to raise military readiness and respond to sabotage, arson and drone incursions.
Europe Under Pressure
The one-day summit at Albert Hall brought NATO and EU officials, defence ministers, military commanders and industry representatives together. Scheduled speakers included NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius, Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen and Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev.
Francken called Russia the biggest threat to Belgium’s security. Belgium has faced several drone incidents this year, some of which disrupted air traffic. “Russia, air attack, air attack, air attack. This is the biggest threat. So we need air defence, air defence, air defence,” he said. Europe needs Ukrainian technology to counter Russian jet-powered drones, he added, along with “more stocks, more production, scale up production, and a large industrial base. Everything has to go faster.”
He spoke frankly about Belgium’s record. “Like the worst pupil of the NATO class,” Belgium spent 1 per cent of GDP on defence, Francken said. The country has now doubled that spending. “But I cannot do in 18 months what has been neglected for 40 years.” Belgium has the EU’s highest debt and one of its most difficult budgets, he said, so spending 5% of GDP on defence isn’t realistic in the near term.
The warnings come as Ukraine enters another wartime winter. Estonia has accused Russia of an August arson attack on a major drone manufacturer. NATO vowed that escalating threats won’t curb its support for Kyiv. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has described such incidents as part of a “new era of European security.”
The Transatlantic Split
The summit also laid bare a dispute over who should build Europe’s weapons. The Commission and EU states have proposed favouring European arms makers to reduce reliance on US-made weapons. Donald Trump’s threats to forcibly seize Greenland and the retreat in US financial and military support for Ukraine have added momentum. Some member states have warned against over-protectionism, given the manufacturing power of the US arms industry.
Andrew Puzder, the US Ambassador to the EU, said the policy could alienate allies and fragment the transatlantic defence industrial base. “Only our enemies benefit when we lose focus on making sure we have the most effective weapons, supporting our mutual defence,” he told the summit. Capability and availability, he said, “should determine the solution, not geography.” NATO’s top military commander, Alexus Grynkewich, told the European Parliament’s defence committee on Tuesday that “codifying preferences as to where military hardware is made” benefits Europe’s “adversaries.”
Puzder praised the Commission for allowing American defence material to be bought for Ukraine under the bloc’s recent €90 billion loan. He said the Commission has indicated it has “no intention” of stopping member states from using national funds to buy US weapon systems.
The Human Cost in Kyiv
Euronews also reported from Ukrainian air-defence units protecting the Kyiv region. Crews said they sometimes have only 10 to 15 seconds to react to an approaching jet-powered drone. Some said recent attacks had left them with as little as an hour and a half of sleep.
Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said countries with drone cooperation agreements could gain access to Ukraine’s newest interception technology. “This isn’t about any specific product. It’s, in principle, about cooperation between countries on similar products,” he said.
Money remains the harder question. On Tuesday, Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko urged the EU in Brussels to use immobilised Russian assets to cover a shortfall next year that could reach $78 billion (€68.77 billion) if allies don’t increase contributions. The EU holds €210 billion in Russian sovereign assets, most of it in Euroclear, a Brussels depository. Marchenko acknowledged that the politics are difficult and asked the bloc to consider a centralised, legally sound framework.
Why This Matters: Brussels faces several demands at once: build air defence faster, close gaps between national procurement systems, keep the transatlantic alliance intact and keep Ukraine funded. Francken’s admission that decades of neglect can’t be reversed in 18 months shows how far member states still have to go. Ukrainian crews working on minutes of sleep show what delay costs. A centralised framework for Russian assets, joint procurement and better military mobility are tasks no single government can manage alone; that’s the case for European-level coordination. From a social democratic perspective, the test is whether governments can fund this effort without unpicking public spending that holds communities together, and whether decisions of this scale are made with democratic accountability. The summit raised those questions without answering them.