A series of incidents have been reported in various European countries in the last 24 hours, ranging from drone incursions to suspected acts of sabotage.
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Rail services in several parts of the Netherlands were disrupted, and ProRail, the company that maintains the country’s railway infrastructure, stated that it is possibly an act of sabotage.
The national railway company NS reported that train services around the central cities of Zwolle, Deventer, and Amersfoort were affected from the morning rush hour.
In a statement, ProRail said that “materials deliberately placed on the tracks at various points have been found. This is causing failures in the track circuits. Everything points to this being an act of sabotage.”
According to the company, the objects caused failures across the network, affecting several level crossings, which interrupted road traffic.
ProRail workers were removing the objects and working to restore safety conditions, it added.
Although the company did not specify what the “materials” were, a ProRail spokesperson told the newspaper De Volkskrant that “pipes connected to the line” had been found at several points.
It was unknown whether the incident was related to the so-called Prinsjesdag, the day the Dutch government presents its annual budget to Parliament, where the reigning monarch delivers a speech.
On that day, thousands of people go to The Hague to see the royal family travel through the city in horse-drawn carriages.
In Germany, meanwhile, an unidentified drone crashed about a kilometer from a military airbase in Wunstorf, Lower Saxony.
The Bundeswehr (Federal Defense) confirmed the information published by the newspaper Bild, and a major police operation was launched to try to find the remains. So far, it was unknown whether it was shot down, neutralized by electronic warfare, or simply crashed on its own.
The Wunstorf airbase is a key logistics center, especially for German A400M aircraft.
This incident occurs just over a month after a drone attack carried out in August against Leipzig-Halle airport. According to two senior German security officials and confidential documents accessed by the newspaper Die Welt, German security authorities identified with a high degree of probability a Belarusian citizen and a Russian national linked to military intelligence services.
This adds to what happened in Lithuania early Tuesday morning, when a drone that entered the airspace of that Baltic country was shot down by NATO fighters between the cities of Vilnius and Kaunas.
The Lithuanian National Crisis Management Center (NKVC) stated that the drone most likely came from neighboring Belarus, an ally of Russia in its war against Ukraine, and was flying west when it was shot down by an Italian aircraft.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda thanked the military alliance for its “quick response.” “In the face of the intensification of Russian aggression against Ukraine, this preparedness is vital for our region,” he wrote on social media. “Together with our NATO allies, Lithuania will defend its airspace.”
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said the Atlantic Alliance’s response sent “a clear message that NATO remains vigilant, committed, and prepared.”
NATO Baltic Air Policing mission fighter jets have been patrolling the skies of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia since the Baltic countries joined the alliance in 2004. The mission’s aircraft shot down stray Ukrainian drones over Estonia in May, and over Latvia in June and August.
The Lithuanian Army said the Tuesday incident marked the first time a drone was shot down in its airspace.
On the other hand, the Danish Foreign Minister announced on Tuesday that the Russian ambassador was summoned after a Russian frigate allegedly fired flares at a Danish military helicopter.
“This is completely unacceptable. Therefore, the Russian ambassador has been summoned to discuss the incident,” Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on the social media platform X.
Late Monday, a Danish Air Force Fennec helicopter was attacked with flares “in connection with the routine photographic coverage of a Russian frigate, which was in international waters off Gedser,” a coastal town on the island of Falster, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
A Russian frigate fired two flares at the helicopter, one of which passed “at close range to it,” it added.
On X, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen criticized the incident. “Reckless action by Russia against the Danish Army during a routine flyover yesterday. Russian actions seek to intimidate and divide. They will not succeed. We will not relent in our efforts.”
On Sunday, a drone hit a passenger train traveling between Kyiv and Warsaw, about two kilometers from the Polish border, amid the latest wave of massive Russian attacks against Ukraine. In a separate incident, a truck was also hit in Ukraine, about 800 meters from a border crossing with Poland.
“This is Putin’s terror ‘knocking’ directly on the doors of the EU and NATO,” wrote Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. “The Russian barbarians are at your doors, dear partners.”
And in Poland, the Army retrieved from the sea what appeared to be a Russian drone on the Baltic coast in the north of the country, Defense Minister said on Monday, cited by Reuters.
“The military have located and recovered a drone from the Baltic Sea near Rusinowo beach, near Jaroslawiec,” wrote Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz on X, who is also Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister.
