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Europe Today: Ο Μαρκ Ρούτε συμμετέχει στη Σύνοδο για την Άμυνα και το Διάστημα του Euronews στις Βρυξέλλες
Η Euronews διοργανώνει στις Βρυξέλλες τη μεγαλύτερη Σύνοδο για την Άμυνα και το Διάστημα παορουσία του ΓΓ του ΝΑΤΟ Μαρκ Ρούτε, ενώ Ουκρανία κι Εσθονία κατηγορούν τη Ρωσία για απόπειρα διάχυσης του πολέμου στην υπόλοιπη Ευρώπη
ΔΙΑΒΑΣΤΕ ΕΠΙΣΗΣ : http://gr.euronews.com/2026/09/30/europe-today-nato-chief-mark-rutte-joins-euronews-defence-and-space-summit-in-brussels
Γίνε συνδρομητής! ! Το euronews είναι διαθέσιμο σε 12 γλώσσες
Η Euronews διοργανώνει στις Βρυξέλλες τη μεγαλύτερη Σύνοδο για την Άμυνα και το Διάστημα παορουσία του ΓΓ του ΝΑΤΟ Μαρκ Ρούτε, ενώ Ουκρανία κι Εσθονία κατηγορούν τη Ρωσία για απόπειρα διάχυσης του πολέμου στην υπόλοιπη Ευρώπη
ΔΙΑΒΑΣΤΕ ΕΠΙΣΗΣ : http://gr.euronews.com/2026/09/30/europe-today-nato-chief-mark-rutte-joins-euronews-defence-and-space-summit-in-brussels
Γίνε συνδρομητής! ! Το euronews είναι διαθέσιμο σε 12 γλώσσες
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00:00Υπότιτλοι AUTHORWAVE
00:302026 in Brussels is bringing together policy makers, industry executives, security experts and innovators to discuss the future of European
00:39defence.
00:40From the NATO Secretary General to EU Commissioners, from Defence Ministers to Ambassadors to CEOs,
00:46the day-long conference will bring exclusive insights on one of the defining topics of our time.
00:52We'll have the latest for you.
00:54Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to boost the army by more than 15,000 troops in the
01:01fourth such order this year.
01:03Putin previously signed decrees boosting the army's size in March, June and July.
01:08The combined increase since March amounts to almost 48,000 soldiers.
01:13Russia's president did not state the reason for the decision, but it has been taken against the backdrop of rising
01:20losses in Moscow's full-scale war in Ukraine.
01:24And a British investigation into a suspected bomb plot at an airbase used by the United States was mired in
01:31confusion yesterday,
01:32after media reported no explosives were detected in the vehicle seized nearby.
01:39That East fears that an attack had been foiled, but left many questions unanswered.
01:44As armed guards maintained a cordon around the nearby village,
01:48Washington questioned the decision to release on bail five men arrested near the Royal Air Force Fairfoot base in southwest
01:57England.
01:58Welcome to the program. I'm Stefan Grobber.
02:01With Europe facing escalating hybrid threats and Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine,
02:07governments across the continent are racing to rebuild their armies and strengthen their defenses.
02:13Today, Euronews brings together the people shaping the defense of tomorrow,
02:18from procurement and intelligence to crisis response and military readiness at our Defense and Space Summit here in Brussels.
02:26NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is among the senior leaders joining us,
02:30alongside defense ministers, military commanders and industry chiefs.
02:35Our Europe editor Maria Tadeo is joining us now, and she'll be sitting down with Rutte later today.
02:42Good morning, Maria.
02:43So, European defense, what are the big themes we're looking out for here?
02:50Yes, good morning, Stefan.
02:51And it is very much about security and it is very much about defense.
02:55We're seeing, certainly in this continent, an active war, the war in Ukraine in a sharp escalation since August.
03:03That ceasefire nowhere to be seen.
03:05That is having big security repercussions for the rest of the European Union.
03:10Obviously, it also impacts NATO supporting Ukraine in that war,
03:15but that has also complicated the picture, as you alluded to, with the perception of escalating,
03:19it's not just a perception, of course, but escalating hybrid warfare and hybrid attacks from Russia on the eastern flank.
03:26And certainly, there has been a sense over the past three weeks that this security picture,
03:31not just for Ukraine, but also for the rest of the European global security, has deteriorated.
03:36That is one of the questions that we'll put to our guests.
03:40The other big element to this conference really is about the defense industry,
03:44the contracts and the money, because there is money to be spent.
03:48You've seen it in some of the countries, including, like yours,
03:50major money putting forward to rebuild armies in Europe.
03:54But when is this going to happen?
03:56What is the timeline?
03:57And also, how can you fix some of the delays and the bottlenecks when it comes to the procurement?
04:02And there's another fundamental question, which really is, who do you buy from?
04:06Is this a made-in-Europe story, or do you still rely on the U.S. at this stage?
04:11There's another big location or dislocation, I should note,
04:14and that is President Trump pushing to a different strategy when it comes to NATO,
04:18that NATO 3.0, which sends a clear picture.
04:20Going forward, the Europeans need to take care of their security,
04:24and they will have to provide for their defense.
04:27Maria, you will be speaking with Mark Rutte.
04:30What do we expect?
04:34Mark Rutte, the head of NATO, the head of NATO at a difficult time,
04:38because there is, of course, an active war in Europe,
04:41but there is a second one in the Middle East,
04:43that is a war in Iran, having major repercussions in the energy market.
04:47Mark Rutte is also a man who has a difficult job at a difficult time.
04:51He needs to keep the alliance engaged.
04:54We've seen the Secretary General really pushing to take those wishes from President Trump
04:58to see more money spent in the alliance come to fruition at the same time.
05:03He needs, and that is a big challenge to his job, to keep the U.S. aligned,
05:08and to keep the U.S. as an active participant in the security alliance that is NATO.
05:13because, Stefan, let's be honest, if there is a ceasefire both in Iran and in Ukraine,
05:19it is President Trump sitting around the table who is going to have, ultimately, a final say.
05:24So this is a man who is leading an alliance at a fragile moment,
05:27but also an alliance where you see money really come to fruition.
05:31You see now countries stepping up, and you see those new defense targets and goals.
05:35Some of the questions, of course, I will put to Mark Rutte in this event.
05:39All right.
05:40Our Europe editor, Maria Tadeo, thank you very much.
05:44Ukraine is racing to scale up a new generation of intercepted drones
05:48as Russia increasingly deploys jet-powered drones in its attacks.
05:54Rio News gained exclusive access to an air defense position protecting the Kiev region
05:58and spoke exclusively to the head of Ukraine's presidential office, Kirill Budanov,
06:03about the technology being developed to counter the new threat.
06:08Our correspondent, Sasha Vakulina, joins us now from Kiev.
06:11Good morning, Sasha.
06:13So what is the latest?
06:15What can you tell us?
06:21Another rather sleepless night here in the capital with the air defense working nonstop.
06:27Kiev residents woke up by around 3 a.m. local time
06:31with at least 10 explosions as Ukrainian air defense were intercepting
06:34the incoming ballistic missiles on top of the endless drone attacks.
06:39Now, Ukraine is currently working on the technology
06:42to intercept Russia's new jet-powered drones.
06:46And I spoke exclusively to Kirill Budanov,
06:49the head of the office of the president of Ukraine,
06:51who told me the technology is already being implemented.
06:53Moreover, it is being tested at the battlefield.
06:55And he said that the challenge now
06:57is to be able to scale up the production of these interceptors.
07:01But he is confident that it will be possible to do
07:04before the cold comes here, before the winter in Ukraine.
07:09And he also told, Uranus confirmed,
07:11that the countries who have already signed the drone deals with Ukraine
07:14or who are negotiating those drone deals with Kiev
07:17will have access to these new interceptors
07:21capable of stopping Russia's jet-powered drones.
07:26This isn't about any specific product.
07:29In principle, it's about cooperation between countries
07:32on similar products, so to speak.
07:34So Ukraine's latest technologies,
07:36which are currently being scaled up,
07:38including interceptors for jet-powered drones,
07:40could also become part of agreements with the European countries?
07:43Anyone who has made such agreements with us
07:45has the right to continue negotiations on specific products.
07:49Uranus was also given exclusive access
07:52to some of the air defense troops working in the Kiev region
07:56to see what the changing threat means for them,
07:59for those people who are indeed in charge of protecting the skies.
08:03Now, they told us that when a jet-powered drone is incoming,
08:06there are about 10 seconds before it can reach Kiev.
08:08And this is more or less the time that they also have to be able
08:12and to prepare to shoot it down,
08:14between 10 to 15 seconds.
08:16And, of course, this intensity is taking its toll on the cruise as well.
08:20Some of these troops I talked to in Kiev
08:23and in the region of the capital
08:25told me that over the past couple of days or even weeks
08:29they could only do about an hour and an hour and a half of sleep.
08:32We also talked to Pavlo Cugunov,
08:36who is aircraft battery commander,
08:37and he described the pressure on his cruise
08:40under why these new jet-powered drones are so difficult
08:43for some of the existing systems to intercept
08:47and what exactly the troops are doing to do that nevertheless.
08:56First of all, there is this constant pressure.
08:58The enemy is constantly putting both those
09:00defending the skies and civilians under pressure.
09:06In my view, this is a tactic aimed at intimidating the civilian population.
09:11Since the Russians are not currently making progress
09:14in direct combat on the front,
09:15they are trying to frighten the population
09:17into withdrawing its support from the military
09:20and, ultimately, to force the military to accept capitulation.
09:32Sasha Vakulina reporting from Kiev.
09:35As ever, thank you very much.
09:37An important element in Russia's war machine is Belarus,
09:41a neighboring country with pariah status in Europe.
09:45Conversely, Alexander Lukashenko's regime benefits from Moscow's support.
09:49But unlike in Russia, there is a strong pro-democracy movement in Belarus
09:54that is preparing in exile for the end of the dictatorship in Minsk.
09:59The opposition leader is Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya,
10:02who works tirelessly for her country's freedom,
10:05as she did yesterday at the European Parliament in Brussels.
10:09I had the opportunity to speak with her about her take
10:12on the likelihood of the war in Ukraine spilling over into the EU.
10:17Look, I don't know what the plans of Russia and Lukashenko's regime are,
10:23but we are seeing what's happening in Belarus, for example,
10:28how regime is building new infrastructure that is not supposed to be there
10:33if a country is not preparing for escalation or provocation.
10:37So, I think that Europe has to be aware of what might happen,
10:43you know, and experts say about the Suwalki gap,
10:47about threats to Lithuania, Latvia, Poland,
10:51and we already see these hybrid attacks on these countries.
10:55We see drones flying over their territories.
10:58We see these balloons over Lithuania that interrupts airspace.
11:03we saw already attacks on trains near Polish borders.
11:09So, we see how, like, Russia is trying to test how far it will go
11:14until there will be reaction.
11:16But I'm absolutely sure that if such, like, physical attacks will take place,
11:21they most certainly will use Belarusian territory,
11:26while Lukashenko is there, who is serving to Russia's interests.
11:30So, that's why, you know, I encourage our European partners
11:34that please help Belarusians to get Belarus out of Russia's claws,
11:39to make Belarus a reliable partner and not the source of constant threat,
11:43because these attacks, you know, on NATO alliance,
11:47it might happen at any moment.
11:48How would you describe Lukashenko's role in the current conflict?
11:56Lukashenko is the puppet of Putin's regime.
11:59He's ready to sell independence,
12:04sovereignty of Belarus,
12:05just in exchange of political and economic support.
12:08He wants personally survive as politician.
12:11And in 2020, Putin saved him, saved Lukashenko,
12:15and now Lukashenko is paying his debts.
12:17He's on the leash, and the issue is how long is the leash.
12:20Putin can shorten it or make it longer,
12:23but it's illusion that we can, like, drag Lukashenko from Putin.
12:30They have this symbiotic relationship,
12:32they need each other, they use each other,
12:34and that's why don't think that Lukashenko can be re-educated
12:41or that he can turn his eyes to Europe.
12:46Would you say that the moment Putin's reign comes to an end,
12:52that would also be the end of Lukashenko's regime in Minsk?
12:57Look, I rather often hear from politicians that,
13:01oh, until something changes will come to Russia,
13:04nothing will change in Belarus.
13:05But I'm absolutely confident that changes in Russia can start from the changes in Belarus,
13:11because in Belarus society is more consolidated.
13:15You know, we know that we voted against Lukashenko in 2020,
13:20and these anti-regime moods, they're still there,
13:23despite repressions, despite political prisoners.
13:27And, you know, it's much easier, you know,
13:30to help Belarusians to win our country back
13:33than to work with Russia and persuade all the Russians
13:37that they have to stop their imperial ambitions.
13:40You know, the contexts are different in Belarus and Russia.
13:43Recently, NATO shot down a drone over Lithuania.
13:48Is that a sufficiently strong message to Moscow?
13:53And how should NATO react if this happens again?
13:56You know, when this drone fall down,
13:58there was almost no reaction from NATO alliance.
14:02Like, drone didn't kill anybody, like, maybe it's accidental.
14:06The next drone might harm somebody.
14:09So, you know, Russia also watches what will be the reaction
14:12from the Western countries.
14:14There is no reaction, okay, they can go further and further,
14:18as I said, test the borders.
14:20You know, and, of course, among population,
14:24you know, these narratives intensifying that the war can start,
14:28there might be attacks on Lithuania.
14:30In Lithuanian people, for example, they're not sure
14:33that NATO alliance, you know, other countries
14:35will come to rescue them.
14:36We have to take example from Ukraine, you know,
14:40because before it was only attacked by Russia.
14:43Now it is attacking back.
14:45I'm not, like, encouraging Europe to attack back immediately,
14:48but just to be prepared for possible counterattack,
14:51you know, if this happens, Europe has to be ready for this.
14:56I have one more.
14:57Your answer can be short.
15:00If you had one message to European leaders
15:03about the Russian-Belorussian drone threat,
15:08what would it be?
15:14Don't panic, but be prepared.
15:19That was Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya.
15:24Let's return to the Euronews Defense Summit
15:26happening this morning here in Brussels.
15:28The transatlantic partnership is under pressure like never before.
15:32as a result of the second Trump administration's
15:35transactional America First policies,
15:38which, among other things,
15:39includes a major shift away from the U.S. role
15:42in European security.
15:43All of this while the continent grapples
15:46with the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine,
15:48soon to be marking five years.
15:51At the summit today,
15:52we'll speak exclusively to U.S. Ambassador to NATO
15:55Matthew Whitaker.
15:56I'm joined now from there
15:58by our NATO correspondent, Shona Murray.
16:01Good morning, Shona.
16:02Good to see you.
16:03What do you hope to hear from Ambassador Whitaker
16:06about the role of the U.S. in European security?
16:11Well, good morning, Stefan.
16:12Indeed, we knew that the United States
16:14has moved significantly
16:15from its traditional role
16:17as guarantor of European security
16:19to a situation where its withdrawing capabilities,
16:22conventional capabilities,
16:23and also in the next few months
16:24will announce a significant reduction
16:26in troops all across NATO territory.
16:29Now, this has been a priority
16:30for the Trump administration.
16:31It was well flagged.
16:32But the problem for Europe
16:33is that it's happening
16:35while there's Russian aggression in Ukraine
16:36and escalating Russian aggression
16:38all across NATO territory
16:40with these increased hybrid attacks.
16:42So we'll be asking the ambassador
16:44a bit about this
16:45and whether he believes this
16:46is not just about intimidating countries
16:48to stop supporting Ukraine,
16:49but also about testing NATO unity,
16:52which is a lot of the secret services
16:53across Europe are saying it is.
16:55So the question is,
16:56will the United States be there for NATO
16:58if this were to happen?
17:00Other questions are very important
17:01around the scarcity
17:02of important patriotic interceptors
17:05that are very,
17:06patriot systems
17:07that are very important for Ukraine
17:08in intercepting ballistic missiles.
17:10And overall,
17:11a conversation about NATO relations
17:13with Donald Trump
17:14and his NATO allies,
17:16given the conflict
17:17and the confrontation
17:18over the war in Iran.
17:20So all of that coming up this morning.
17:21Stefan?
17:22Also, Shona,
17:24yesterday the Estonian government
17:26formally attributed responsibility
17:27to Russia
17:28for an attack on a defence company,
17:31the second of its kind.
17:33Undoubtedly,
17:34this will feature
17:35as part of today's summit.
17:37Tell us what happened.
17:40Well, this situation overall
17:43will very much dominate today
17:44because we are seeing Russia
17:46being less risk averse
17:47when it comes to these attacks
17:48all across NATO territory
17:50and the fact that they're much more
17:52violent and kinetic.
17:53And the one in Estonia
17:54was very similar to that
17:55in Leipzig Airport
17:56in Germany in August
17:57where this was a sabotage,
17:59an arson attack
17:59on a robotics defence company
18:02in Tallinn in mid-August.
18:04The Estonians came out yesterday
18:06and said,
18:06according to their secret services,
18:08that they can confirm
18:09with certainty,
18:10conclude with certainty
18:11that the arson attack
18:12was an act of sabotage
18:14ordered by the special services
18:15of the Russian Federation.
18:17the second time
18:18a NATO country
18:19has said
18:20that this is definitely Russia,
18:21which means that
18:22countries themselves
18:23are becoming much more
18:24confrontational
18:25with the Kremlin.
18:26Now, what does this mean?
18:27It means that
18:28it's an escalation in tensions,
18:31but that doesn't mean
18:31that they want to go to war, per se,
18:33but certainly relations
18:34are getting that much more tense.
18:37Stefan?
18:38All right.
18:38Shona Murray there for us.
18:40Thank you very much
18:40for that update.
18:42And that does it for us today.
18:43Make sure you follow
18:44our Defence Summit on TV
18:46and online.
18:47Thank you for watching.
18:48I'm Stefan Grobe
18:49and I see you tomorrow.
19:21and I see you tomorrow.
19:44live in on TV,
19:48and I see you tomorrow.
19:49Bye.
19:50Bye.
19:52Bye.
19:53Bye.
19:55Bye....