(CN) - Europe's defense ministers announced billions more for Ukraine on Friday while grappling with a cheaper Russian threat: drones that have shut down Belgian airports and may be pressuring Belgium to block a 140-billion-euro ($162 billion) loan backed by frozen Russian assets.

Europe's top five military powers - Germany, France, Italy, Poland and the U.K. - convened their most urgent coordination meeting in a year, confronting drone incursions that have evaded all countermeasures and a frozen assets standoff that could cut off Ukraine's financial lifeline by April.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius unveiled a new 150-million-euro contribution to NATO's PEARL mechanism, which finances American weapons systems for Ukraine. "A prominent example are the Patriot systems and, above all, the aircraft carriers for them," he said.

Pistorius used the meeting to highlight the 11.5 billion euros in military aid for Ukraine in 2026 that the Bundestag's budget committee approved Thursday - Berlin's highest support level since Russia invaded in 2022. Germany's total military support since 2022 now stands at roughly 40 billion euros, second only to the United States.

U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said Britain has extended deployment of its drone experts from Denmark to Belgium and even Finland.

"The threats against our nations and against Europe have only increased, with reckless drone incursions into Poland, Russian jets flying over Estonia," Healey said.

Italy announced it is delivering 800 million euros in civilian support to Ukraine, including generators to help navigate winter energy shortages as Russia intensifies attacks on energy infrastructure, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas previewed a military mobility package she'll present next Wednesday with the European Commission, designed to enable rapid troop movements across Europe by addressing infrastructure gaps in roads, bridges, tunnels and rail lines.

The crises driving the agenda

The ministers gathered as two interconnected problems threaten European security and support for Ukraine.

Last week, drones shut down Brussels and Lige airports multiple times, evading drone jammers, helicopter pursuit and police. They also flew over Kleine Brogel military base, where U.S. nuclear weapons are reportedly stored under NATO arrangements.

Since September, similar incursions have targeted airports and military sites across Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden.

Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken called the intrusions "not the work of amateurs." The drones flew at high altitude and evaded all countermeasures. Belgium has convened its National Security Council and will launch a National Airspace Security Center by Jan. 1, 2026.

The drone incursions come as Belgium is blocking a 140-billion-euro loan to Ukraine that would use frozen Russian cash sitting in Brussels. The assets - held by Brussels-based clearinghouse Euroclear - were immobilized after Russia's 2022 invasion. Using them to back loans has been controversial, with Belgium fearing Moscow will retaliate or sue for their return.

Sven Biscop, director of the Egmont Institute in Brussels, said Russia's motives are likely multifaceted: "There's classic espionage, certainly where military hardware is concerned. There's the attempt to test our defenses. There's also the attempt to influence public opinion, to influence government decisionmaking," he said.

The operations are cheap but effective. Biscop said the drones are "relatively low cost" for Russia but can have "great effects." The drones are either launched from Russia's shadow fleet of ships - vessels that evade sanctions by disguising ownership and disabling tracking systems - or by locals recruited to commit those acts. "They're expendable for the Russians," he said.

The 140-billion-euro loan is critical for Ukraine's survival. Kyiv runs out of cash by April without it, and the International Monetary Fund won't release its own $8 billion until the EU commits the Russian assets.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever on Friday afternoon to personally push him to drop his opposition. De Wever is demanding firm guarantees that EU countries will jointly repay the full loan if the assets are returned to Russia.

The commission - the EU's executive arm - wants the loan approved by the end of 2025, but Belgium's resistance threatens that timeline.

"Using immobilized Russian assets is the most clear-cut way to sustain Ukraine's defense," Kallas said at the Berlin press conference. "It is also the way to show Russia that time is not on their side."

The incidents have exposed a gap between Europe's defense spending and actual capabilities. EU defense budgets have nearly doubled from 218 billion euros in 2021 to an expected 392 billion in 2025, according to European Commission figures.

Yet the bloc still struggles with threats that Ukraine handles routinely on a much smaller budget. Ukraine shoots down the vast majority of incoming drones with equipment that costs a fraction of what European nations spend.

The strategic implications are clear. "The planning assumption here must be that this war will continue and that U.S. support is likely to be reduced further," Biscop said.

As European defense ministers convened on Friday, Russia launched a massive attack on Ukraine, killing four people in Kyiv and damaging dozens of residential buildings with 430 drones and 18 ballistic missiles. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the bombardment "deliberately calculated" to cause maximum civilian harm.

Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure as winter approaches. "Putin is very recognizable and clear about making the winter for Ukraine as unbearable as possible," Pistorius said. "To destroy the morale and to break the will of the Ukrainians to resist."

Ukraine may have lost 60% of its natural gas production capacity to Russian strikes in October, forcing the country to spend nearly 2 billion euros on emergency imports this winter. Former Energy Minister Olga Bohuslavets has warned: "It is already clear that this winter will be much harder than all previous ones."

Europe's response remains uneven. The EU has proposed a new anti-drone system to be operational by the end of 2027, with the Netherlands and Latvia leading the effort. But the Belgian chaos raises questions about that timeline.

For now, the drone incursions continue - a reminder that Russia has found a cheap way to unnerve Europe while its expensive military grinds through Ukraine.

Courthouse News correspondent Yuval Molina is based in Brussels.

Source: Courthouse News Service