The hope was real: Donald Trump back in the White House, known for statements in favour of a negotiated solution in Ukraine, and Vladimir Putin, who has signalled for years that an agreement is possible — if Russia’s security interests are respected. But where does that stand now?
In the last months, sightings of alleged Russian drones over Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Romania, and Germany have increased. What do these sightings have in common? First, not a single one of these drones was intercepted, shot down, or forced to land through electronic interference. Second, no one knows where these drones came from and where they disappeared to. There are no radar plots, no verifiable flight paths, although in all cases it concerns critical civilian, military, or dual-use infrastructure, namely in one of the most densely guarded airspaces in the world. These drones simply disappeared, and I have no further comment on that.
The dramatic reports of Russian GPS jamming forcing European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s aircraft to navigate using “paper maps” after an hour of circling have been comprehensively debunked by technical analysis, flight data, and official retractions. What initially appeared to be a sophisticated electronic warfare attack on August 31, 2025, has proven to be a case study in how routine aviation incidents can be sensationalized beyond recognition when proper technical verification is bypassed.
