Published on September 24, 2026 | Updated 19:31
NATO is fully prepared to respond to sabotage and drone incidents across Europe, with robust response plans already in place to address such threats, Secretary General Mark Rutte stated on Thursday.
“Russia is increasingly active in the cyber and other domains, but NATO is ready for this,” Rutte said during an event in New York commemorating the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
“We have all the necessary response options in place when it comes to hybrid operations to ensure that we remain strong,” he added.
Rutte argued that the rising tide of hybrid incidents across NATO member states is a clear indication that Russian President Vladimir Putin is losing the war in Ukraine, which is now in its fifth year.
“Putin is in a bad place,” Rutte asserted, noting that Russia is not winning the war in Ukraine and that citizens across the 32 NATO allies can remain calm.
He urged alliance members to provide “more support for Ukraine” to send a strong signal to Moscow in response to every hybrid incident and attack.
“All the response options are available, and we will utilize whatever is necessary,” Rutte added.
His remarks follow a warning from Danish intelligence on Thursday regarding an escalating risk of Russian military action against NATO countries, including further hybrid operations.
Concurrently, Spanish media reported that U.S. intelligence had alerted European nations to a potential Russian drone operation targeting Spain, France, or Italy.
U.S. Defense Secretary urges Europe to take the lead on its defense
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged European allies on Thursday to take the lead in defending their own continent, calling for the transformation of NATO into a “real hard-line military alliance.”
Speaking at a meeting of NATO defense ministers, Hegseth proposed a “NATO 3.0” initiative focused on bolstering collective military capabilities and deterring threats across Europe.
His remarks arrive weeks after Washington notified its allies that it would no longer commit to providing specific warships and aircraft in the event of an attack on a NATO member. European allies and Canada are currently evaluating how to fill these emerging capability gaps.
“NATO 3.0 represents a post-Cold War realization that the alliance must return to being a robust, hard-line military alliance with genuine capabilities to deter threats right here on the continent and take the lead in the conventional defense of Europe,” Hegseth stated.
While Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty declares that an attack on one member is an attack on all, the provision does not automatically obligate allies to provide military assistance.
The United States, which fields NATO’s largest military, is seeking to scale back its role in the conventional defense of Europe. However, Washington does not plan to withdraw its nuclear weapons stationed in Europe, which remain a cornerstone of the alliance’s deterrence strategy.