EU member states meet for talks on 'drone wall'

BRUSSELS - Representatives from European Union (EU) countries with borders close to Russia and Ukraine are holding talks on Friday about building a "drone wall" to ramp up defenses following several airspace violations.

Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have been working on a drone wall project, but in March, the EU's executive branch rejected a joint Estonia-Lithuania request for funds to set one up.

Since then, Europe's borders have been increasingly tested by rogue drones. NATO jets scrambled on September 10 to shoot down a number of Russian drones that breached Polish airspace.

Airports in Denmark were temporarily closed this week after drones were flown nearby.

EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius is chairing Friday's talks.

The meeting, via video-link, will include those countries plus officials from Bulgaria, Denmark Romania and Slovakia, along with representatives from Ukraine and NATO.

The aim is to establish what equipment those countries have to counter drone intrusions, what more they might need to plug any gaps along NATO s eastern flank, and for Kubilius work out where EU funds might be found to help the effort.