EU defense agency says Europe is rearming too slowly to be ready to defend against Russia by 2030

The European Defense Agency has warned that Europe's defense capabilities are not advancing rapidly enough to be ready to defend against Russia by 2030, according to a summary of a report for the bloc's leaders. EU leaders tasked the agency with evaluating progress in enhancing Europe's defenses in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and calls for greater European security responsibility.

However, the report's authors say current plans "do not seem to meet" the goal of achieving defense readiness by 2030. While noting progress in defense spending, capability development, and industrial readiness, the report highlights significant gaps in air and missile defense, ground combat, naval forces, ammunition stockpiles, and drones.

EU defense ministers will discuss the findings on Monday and forward them to the bloc's leaders for consideration. Meanwhile, Russia has intensified strikes on Ukraine's data centers and telecommunications infrastructure, causing internet disruptions in Kyiv and raising concerns about potential wider outages that could affect critical sectors.