(MENAFN) European Parliament members sounded the alarm Wednesday over what they described as an escalating hybrid warfare campaign by Russia and Belarus targeting the EU, pointing to repeated airspace breaches, unmanned aerial incursions, and recent sabotage attacks on vital infrastructure.

The urgent debate came after Lithuania shuttered multiple border crossings with Belarus in October following the detection of smuggling balloons floating into its territory. Legislators characterized these balloons, alongside suspected Russian drone intrusions and sabotage operations—including last week's railway bombing in Poland—as components of a "coordinated effort" designed to terrorize EU populations and erode solidarity with Ukraine.

Multiple MEPs emphasized that airspace violations have become a daily occurrence throughout the continent. Juan Ignacio Zoido Alvarez, the MEP from Spain, warned that Russian drones are materializing "day by day" and called for "urgent anti-drone systems in Europe, technologically functional and affordable."

Nicolae Stefanuta, vice president of the EP, highlighted growing fear among frontier communities, declaring: "We need defense capabilities. We need anti drone capacities and a European approach to respond to this bullying from Russia."

Lawmakers urged rapid development of an EU "drone wall," integrated cross-border detection infrastructure, and instantaneous intelligence coordination between member states.

Hilde Vautmans of Belgium pressed the bloc to "make sure that the drone wall can already be there by next year, under European Command, with cross border detection and jamming."

"Will this cost money, of course, but it will be a fraction of the cost that the cost of the military aircraft that have to shoot these drones down now. So we need to do more in our defense budget, and we need to work together with Ukraine colleagues," she said. "Every euro that we save today with our counter drone capacity will be paid back twice over in future."

Maria Guzenina, a legislator from Finland, stressed this is "not the time" for partial solutions but demands "unity, adequate financing and action."

"We must shield our cables, guard our ports, secure our skies. We must protect our people," she urged.

Victor Negrescu from Romania insisted that "not a square centimeter of European airspace can be breached without consequences," warning the safety of European citizens "cannot wait."

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