Ukraine experts to advise Europe on plugging defence gaps

The European Union's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said advisors from the war-torn country as well as from Britain and EU nations will come together from next week, as Europe seeks to shore up its defences in the face of an aggressive Russia.

"Europe is investing more in defence than ever, but spending alone is not automatically a guarantee for success," Kallas told journalists after a meeting of European Union defence ministers in Ireland.

"We have not been fast enough to cover the gaps in Europe's conventional power within NATO," she added, noting that most EU countries were also members of the North Atlantic alliance.

European countries started ramping up military budgets after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump has also piled pressure on Europe to spend more on defence as Washington signals it wants to step back from the continent to focus on other challenges such as China.

Kallas said the initiative will bring together "senior political and military leaders from several EU countries" as well as from Britain and Ukraine.

"The aim is to have some of the brightest minds on security and defence to come together and really provide out-of-the-box solutions," she said.

Ukraine was included due to its battlefield experience, she added.

The announcement came as worries grow that Moscow is looking to deflect from its battlefield troubles in Ukraine by ramping up so-called "hybrid" operations in Europe.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said his country had increasingly "found itself in the crosshairs of hybrid attackers" after an explosive-laden drone was found in August at Leipzig airport, a crucial military transport hub.

Meanwhile the Pentagon, which has some 80,000 troops stationed in Europe, has told allies it is reducing the number of assets it makes available for NATO's defence plans.

While Europe can already fill in some of the gaps Washington is leaving in NATO's defence plans, key assets such as long-range missiles will take time to substitute.