{"id":463763,"date":"2026-09-02T16:44:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T14:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/09\/02\/von-der-leyen-lattacco-a-lipsia-segna-una-escalation-su-suolo-ue-e-una-nuova-normalita\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T17:32:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T15:32:06","slug":"von-der-leyen-the-attack-in-leipzig-marks-an-escalation-on-eu-soil-and-a-new-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/09\/02\/von-der-leyen-the-attack-in-leipzig-marks-an-escalation-on-eu-soil-and-a-new-normal\/","title":{"rendered":"Von der Leyen: \u201cThe attack in Leipzig marks an escalation on EU soil and a new normal\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 The attack using a drone laden with explosives against cargo aircraft at Leipzig Airport (Germany)\u2014which took place on 4 August and, following a month of investigations, has been attributed by German investigators to Russia\u2014marks \u201ca new escalation\u201d within EU territory of Moscow\u2019s war against Ukraine, which confronts Europeans with a \u201cnew normal\u201d<\/strong>. This was stated<\/a> today (2 September) by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong>, during a press briefing alongside the NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte<\/strong>. A situation in which, according to von der Leyen, it is necessary to \u201ctake a step forward.\u201d In other words: \u201cIt means being ready to respond to Russia\u2019s recklessness more swiftly and effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

“We are meeting today to discuss the Russian attack on Leipzig. The German government has identified Russia as responsible for an attempted attack on cargo aircraft at Leipzig\/Halle Airport. Had this attack been successful, it would have caused enormous damage and possibly even loss of life. I therefore want to be very clear about what happened: this was an attack using military equipment, carried out by Russian agents on EU soil. And we will not tolerate it,<\/strong>\u201d von der Leyen emphasised. An incident which, according to the President, \u201cforms part of a broader pattern of increasingly dangerous incidents\u201d, such as “the repeated incursions into our airspace”<\/a>\u00a0and the \u201cdrones paralysing our airports.\u201d These are \u201cinterferences with our critical infrastructure\u201d and \u201cEuropeans are facing the harsh reality that this is the new normal.<\/strong>\u201d But as well as reaffirming full solidarity with Germany, the head of the Berlaymont Building also stressed that Moscow has failed, if its intention \u201cwas to make us reconsider our support for Ukraine.\u201d Indeed, it has \u201cstrengthened the resolve\u201d\u2014on the part of Europe and NATO\u2014to \u201cmaintain and intensify the pressure on Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

A view shared by NATO Secretary-General, Mark Rutte<\/strong>. \u201cRussia has become increasingly reckless\u201d because \u201cas it continues its terrible war against Ukraine, we have seen an increase in drone and missile activity in our airspace, along our eastern flank, creating a growing risk.\u201d Furthermore, \u201cwe have also seen an increase in hostile activities directed against our territory, whether it be fires set in factories producing defence equipment for Ukraine, or the Russian hybrid attack in Leipzig.\u201d Therefore, \u201cthe dangers posed by Russia are clear, and we are working tirelessly to ensure the safety of our citizens<\/strong>. If Russia thinks that this threat will divide us or deter us from supporting Ukraine, it is mistaken. Our unity is unshakeable. Our support for Ukraine is clear,\u201d explained the former Dutch prime minister, now at the head of the North Atlantic Alliance.<\/p>\n

On support for Kyiv, von der Leyen confirmed she had received a request for funding amounting to \u201cseveral billion euros\u201d from the country at war. This \u201cwould cover Ukraine\u2019s air defences, including highly advanced
\nPAC-3 Patriot<\/a><\/p>\n

air defence systems\u201d, and Member States are currently examining the request. \u201cI can say that the situation is moving in the right direction,<\/strong>\u201d she added. The head of the European Commission announced that the EU is \u201cworking with Ukraine on the project
\nFREYJA<\/a>, a European project to build a ballistic missile defence system.\u201d She noted that \u201cthis is in addition to the support loan of \u20ac90 billion<\/a>, for which the EU has already allocated \u20ac8.5 billion for drones and missiles<\/a>.\u201d These funds \u201cwill also be used to purchase fighter aircraft from European manufacturers,\u201d she emphasised.<\/p>\n

In this context, von der Leyen urged that \u201cwe regard our everyday infrastructure as frontline targets and protect them accordingly,\u201d promising to support \u201cany Member State that takes on Russia.\u201d Europe \u201calready has rapid response teams capable of responding to this type of attack, whether they occur inside or outside\u201d the Union. For the President, all this increases Europe\u2019s resilience, as well as \u201cthe strength of our Single Market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, recalling how the sanctions have \u201cweakened the Russian economy,\u201d the President highlighted the possibility of \u201cimposing further sanctions and keeping them ready as soon as such dangerous acts, which put human lives at risk, are attributed\u201d to the Russian Federation. The message was clear: \u201cEvery loophole that Russia exploits is one that we must close.\u201d For this reason, \u201ctoday in Ireland, European foreign ministers are discussing new lists of sanctions<\/strong>\u201d against Moscow. Europe \u201cwill continue, will prevail, and will deter anyone who attacks our freedom and security,\u201d she concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The President of the European Commission and the Secretary-General of NATO met to discuss the events that took place in August in the German city: \u201cLet us maintain and step up the pressure on Moscow\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7908,"featured_media":463727,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[30809,25707],"tags":[35577,26096,35578,26329,28986,35451,35455,29842],"class_list":["post-463763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-defence-security","category-world-politics","tag-alleanza-ue-nato","tag-commissione-europea-en","tag-lipsia","tag-mark-rule-one","tag-missili-en","tag-prestito-allucraina-2","tag-prestito-safe","tag-war-in-ucraine-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7908"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463763"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463765,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463763\/revisions\/463765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}