Macron orders plan to shield French infrastructure from Russian hybrid attacks
French President Emmanuel Macron instructed his government to prepare a plan protecting critical infrastructure and sensitive defence-industrial sites from drones and cyberattacks, citing a sharp rise in Russian hybrid operations against European interests since the summer. He listed incidents including a drone attack on a Kyiv–Warsaw train, an attempted strike on Leipzig airport and a signal rocket fired near a Danish frigate as examples of the escalating threat. The order came at an Élysée meeting with parliamentary party leaders and France's intelligence chiefs on 18 September.
Key points
- Macron ordered the French government to prepare a plan protecting critical infrastructure from drone and cyberattacks.
- He said Russia has significantly increased hybrid attacks against European interests since the summer.
- Examples cited: a drone attack on a Kyiv–Warsaw train, an attempted strike on Leipzig airport (linked by German intelligence to Russia's GRU), and a signal rocket near a Danish frigate.
- Macron reported multiple Russian violations of European countries' airspace.
- Macron said support for Ukraine is more necessary than ever for France's security and a return to a just and lasting peace.
- The meeting at the Élysée on 18 September brought together Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, parliamentary party leaders and heads of French intelligence and security services.
- Following a Defence and National Security Council meeting, the interior minister gathered defence-and-security zone prefects to raise readiness.
Why it matters
By tying Russian hybrid operations directly to the defence of French soil, Macron is framing continued support for Ukraine as a domestic security imperative rather than a foreign-policy choice. The plan institutionalises a response to drones, cyberattacks and threats to defence-industrial assets at the highest level of government, and slots into a wider European pattern — Poland's intelligence warnings of Russian hybrid plans and the EU's forthcoming security strategy — that treats the threat as cross-border and structural.
What happened
On 18 September, President Emmanuel Macron convened parliamentary party leaders at the Élysée Palace for a meeting that also included Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and the heads of France's intelligence and security services. The agenda covered the war in Ukraine, Middle Eastern conflicts and their implications for French security and energy. Macron used the occasion to announce that Russia has sharply escalated hybrid operations against European interests since the summer. He cited a drone attack on a train between Kyiv and Warsaw, an attempted attack on Leipzig airport — which German intelligence has linked to Russia's GRU — and the firing of a signal rocket near a Danish frigate, alongside multiple Russian violations of European airspace. Macron ordered the government to draw up a plan to protect critical infrastructure and sensitive defence-industrial and technological facilities from drones and cyberattacks. After a Defence and National Security Council meeting, the interior minister gathered defence-and-security zone prefects to raise readiness levels.
How international sources describe it
France is placing itself at the centre of a European response to Russian hybrid operations, with Macron explicitly linking the threat to the wider war in Ukraine. The move aligns with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's claims that intelligence indicates Russian plans for hybrid strikes against countries supporting Ukraine, and with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's signals that the EU will present a new security strategy intended to complement Article 4 of the NATO treaty. France, alongside the UK, leads the Coalition of the Willing and is preparing Europe-based exercises tied to that format in the coming weeks.
Where reporting differs
One source article attributes the order to prepare the critical-infrastructure protection plan to the French interior minister, while the available facts more directly tie the instruction to President Macron's order to the government; the same article states the interior minister separately convened defence-and-security zone prefects to raise readiness.
Background
France was an early European mover on foreign digital interference, having set up Viginum as a dedicated service to detect it. The current French push comes alongside Polish intelligence warnings about Russian hybrid planning against Ukraine-supporting countries and the EU's preparation of a complementary security strategy to NATO's Article 4. The Coalition of the Willing, co-led by France and the UK, frames much of Macron's messaging on Ukraine support.