Slovakia has joined a number of other countries that will participate in a meeting on September 26 on creating a "drone wall" to protect against aerial threats. This was stated by European Commission spokesperson Thomas Rainier at a briefing in Brussels, Ukrinform reports.
"I can confirm that Slovakia has been added to the list of seven member states, Denmark and Ukraine, which are on the front line (referring to the eastern flank of the EU - ed.)," the spokesman said.
According to Rainier, the event will not be just a meeting "that looks good on paper - it will be a meeting with solid commitments and concrete results." He did not say anything about the agenda of the event.
He also said that the meeting would discuss issues of cooperation with NATO, but did not provide details. In addition, Rainier stressed that the creation of a "drone wall" is a specific need for Europe.
He added, citing European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius, that the project could be implemented within a year. At the same time, its component called "detection" could be launched even earlier.
According to Dennik N, Slovak President Peter Pellegrini separately stated that his country plans to become part of the "drone wall" project.
He emphasized that Slovakia is a full member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and actively participates in all consultations.
"At the moment, this is only an initial statement by the European Commission about the need to create such a mechanism (we are talking about a "drone wall" - ed.), so I do not want to draw premature conclusions," the President of Slovakia added.
At the same time, he spoke about the need to protect the EU's eastern flank.
"It needs to be fully protected, regardless of which countries are involved. Otherwise it would not make sense, as it would create security risks for the entire territory of the Alliance," Pellegrini added.
He expressed his belief that the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, as well as representatives of the Armed Forces, will do everything possible to ensure that Slovakia is part of this project.
Earlier, European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius said that Ukraine should join the "drone wall," and the EU plans to use Ukrainian technologies to create protection.