Intelligence reports indicate that Russia is planning additional acts of sabotage across Europe, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday (September 28) ahead of the Foreign Affairs Council on defence.

"We need to remain vigilant because intelligence shows that Russia is planning further sabotage acts and attacks against our democracy," Kallas said before a meeting of EU defence ministers in Brussels.

Kallas also said the EU requires additional ships for its Red Sea shipping protection mission, known as Aspides, to make it fully operational. She said she had been encouraging member states to contribute more to the mission, but had not yet received any new firm commitments.

The EU has been working to strengthen its collective defence capabilities while maintaining support for Ukraine against Russian aggression.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (SEPTEMBER 28, 2026) (EUROPEAN UNION - Access all)

1. EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF KAJA KALLAS ENTERING BUILDING

2. KALLAS WALKING TOWARDS MEDIA

3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF, KAJA KALLAS, SAYING:

“We need to be vigilant because we see in the intelligence that Russia is planning more sabotage acts and actually attacks against our democracy to divide our society, to intimidate our societies from refraining to help Ukraine. So, this is something that they have in mind. We have to keep this in mind as well to be standing up to these threats also when we have intelligence to be already able to react before these attacks actually take place.”

4. LITHUANIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, ROBERTAS KAUNAS, TALKING TO MEDIA

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF, KAJA KALLAS, SAYING:

“We have done a lot. I mean the investment in defence has increased, but at the same time we have big defence capability gaps and now we should focus on how we actually fill those gaps.”

6. WHITE FLASH

7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF, KAJA KALLAS, SAYING:

“We will also discuss the situation in the Middle East, especially our naval operations in the region. We have Operation Aspides, but it really requires more naval assets to be operational. The need is bigger than it's ever been. We have a lot of requests for escorting the ships, but we need naval assets that can also do that.”

8. KALLAS EXITING THE HALL