Russia Threatens European Drone Factories with Hypersonic Missiles

The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation has threatened military strikes against 21 drone and component production facilities across Europe, Israel, and Turkey. This escalation follows a diplomatic tour by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, which secured a 4 billion euro defense package from Germany, 9 billion euros from Norway, and a pledge from the United Kingdom to deliver 120,000 drones in 2026. Russia claims these facilities transform Western nations into a strategic rear for Kyiv and warns that the production of AI-driven and long-range weapons leads to an escalation of the military-political situation.

Russian officials, including Dmitry Medvedev and Alexei Zhuravlev, stated that the list of identified sites—which includes specific addresses in London, Leicester, and Suffolk, as well as the Elsight company in Haifa—should be taken literally as targets for the Russian armed forces. Russia specifically threatened the use of Oreshnik hypersonic missiles against these sites. Dmitry Peskov and other Kremlin representatives asserted that European countries are becoming directly involved in the conflict by supporting Ukrainian strike capabilities.

In response, Baltic states denied the allegations, while Belgian General Staff Chief Frederik Vansina emphasized the need for Europe to strengthen its military capabilities by 2030 to remain resilient without American support. Amidst these tensions, Sweden's Chief of Defense warned that Russia might seize a Baltic island to test NATO's political cohesion, while reports emerged of Russian forces destroying Western aircraft at airfields in Ukraine's Kirovohrad region.