French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that Russia’s campaign of hybrid attacks against France and the rest of Europe has entered a more dangerous phase, vowing that Paris will not allow such provocations to go unanswered.
Speaking at a news conference at the Élysée Palace, Macron said he had instructed the government to draw up a protective strategy for critical infrastructure and defence industry sites in response to what he described as an intensifying threat. He confirmed that France had been the target of Russian hybrid operations in recent weeks, and insisted that these actions would be met with resolve.
“The intent is to intimidate us and break our effort to support Ukraine. The result will be the exact opposite. We are not intimidated because we know that our security today and tomorrow is at stake in Ukraine,” he said.
The French leader’s remarks come amid mounting concern among European governments that the Kremlin is testing the continent’s unity and preparedness through a shadowy blend of sabotage, cyberattacks and disinformation.
A shifting threat landscape
Hybrid warfare is a loose and contested term, but it generally refers to non-military tactics used to pressure or destabilise an adversary. These can include cyberattacks, sabotage, election interference, and the weaponisation of migration or energy supplies. Such operations are often carried out by proxies, allowing Moscow to maintain a veneer of deniability, even when forensic evidence points the other way.
Macron’s warning follows a series of incidents that have sharpened European anxieties. Last month, a drone attack on Leipzig airport in Germany was widely attributed to Russian operatives. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has also alerted parliament to what he described as Russian plans to use drones and missiles against Poland and other Nato allies on the alliance’s eastern flank.
Speaking to Polish MPs on Thursday, Tusk said there was a “real risk” that strikes could land on Nato territory, with Moscow then claiming they were “accidental”. The aim, he argued, would be to split the alliance by testing the threshold of collective defence without triggering a full-scale Article 5 response.
Macron echoed that assessment, linking the intensified pressure directly to Western support for Ukraine. He framed the escalating campaign as an attempt to weaken European resolve at a moment when the outcome of the war is far from settled.
Sabotage, drones and a narrow escape
The threat is no longer purely theoretical. Last Sunday, a Russian drone struck a passenger train near the Ukraine-Poland border at Yahodyn, hitting the locomotive. Ukrainian officials said all passengers had been evacuated just minutes before impact. The timing was striking: former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior European security officials had passed through the same railway line shortly beforehand.
That incident followed a spate of suspicious fires at defence-related facilities from Italy to Estonia, with several affected countries pointing the finger at Moscow. While the origins of these blazes remain murky, the pattern has become unmistakable to European security services: Russia is probing vulnerabilities, testing reaction times, and seeking out weak points in the continent’s defences.
The Kremlin, for its part, continues to deny any hostile intent. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said Russia does not plan to attack Europe. Yet his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, has warned that any European deployment of troops to Ukraine would be treated as a declaration of war. “If Europe attacks Russia, it will be a completely different war, and it will be very short,” Lavrov said.
Moscow has also renewed its warnings to London. On Friday, Russia reiterated that any British military facilities in Ukraine used to strike Russian territory would be regarded as “legitimate targets”. The foreign ministry reserved the right to take “necessary counter-measures” in response to what it called the UK’s “fiercely confrontational stance regarding Ukraine”, particularly its supply of drones and other weapon systems to Kyiv.
Macron’s response: protecting Europe’s soft underbelly
In his press conference, Macron made clear that France’s response would extend beyond traditional military deterrence. He announced that the government had been tasked with safeguarding critical infrastructure and the “most sensitive” defence industry and technology sites against drone and cyberattacks. The plan is designed to harden targets that are particularly exposed to sabotage, including energy grids, transport hubs, and the industrial base that sustains Ukraine’s war effort.
But Macron also signalled a broader European dimension to the crisis. He said France would convene a G7 meeting devoted to energy security, raising the question of gas stocks with the European Commission. The aim, he suggested, would be to strengthen cooperation among allies while avoiding unnecessary tensions with major partners.
“In the coming weeks, we will have a G7 meeting devoted to these energy issues, both to strengthen cooperation and to avoid unnecessary tensions between the G7 countries and our main partners,” Macron said. “It will also be an opportunity to consider options for a possible release or unlocking of strategic reserves.”
The energy angle is significant. Europe has spent much of the past two years weaning itself off Russian gas, but the transition has left the continent vulnerable to price shocks and supply disruptions. Hybrid warfare is not only about drones and cyberattacks; it is also about economic pressure, political manipulation, and the slow erosion of public confidence. By placing energy at the centre of the G7 agenda, Macron is signalling that France intends to treat the threat as a systemic challenge rather than a series of isolated incidents.
A continent on edge
Macron’s warning reflects a broader shift in European thinking. For months, intelligence officials and political leaders have described a campaign of sabotage that appears designed to test the alliance’s resolve. From undersea cable damage in the Baltic to GPS jamming in the Arctic, the incidents have multiplied. The question is no longer whether Russia is willing to target European soil, but how far it will go.
The attack on the passenger train near Yahodyn was a stark illustration of the risks. Had the evacuation not been carried out in time, the casualties could have been significant. The fact that Johnson and other officials had used the same route moments earlier only added to the sense that Moscow is deliberately probing the boundaries of acceptable behaviour.
So far, Nato’s response has been cautious. Allies have avoided direct confrontation, mindful of the risks of escalation. But there is a growing recognition that deterrence must be recalibrated. The old assumptions about Russian restraint no longer hold.
Macron’s decision to speak out, and to frame the issue in stark terms, is itself a departure. France has often been cast as the European leader most willing to keep lines of communication open with Moscow. Yet the evidence of recent weeks appears to have shifted the calculus. The threat is no longer abstract; it is present, persistent, and aimed squarely at the continent’s weaknesses.
Why it Matters
Europe is waking up to a new reality in which the lines between war and peace are deliberately blurred. Russia’s hybrid campaign is not a side-effect of the conflict in Ukraine; it is central to Moscow’s strategy of breaking Western support for Kyiv without triggering a direct military confrontation. If France and its allies fail to respond decisively, the attacks will only become bolder. But if Europe can harden its defences, expose the perpetrators, and maintain unity, it may yet deter the Kremlin from going further. The next few months will be critical. Macron has drawn a line in the sand; the question is whether the rest of Europe will stand behind it.