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‘No one needs more fuel on the fire.’ Italy pushes back on report that CIA warned of possible Russian sea-launched drone attacks.

Source: Meduza

The CIA warned Spain, France, and Italy about a possible Russian operation to launch drones from civilian ships, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo said on September 24, citing sources.

A source close to Lithuania’s Defense Ministry said Russian forces could use Geran-5 drones hidden in shipping containers. The source cited Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb, in which drones hidden in truck trailers attacked Russian military airfields.

Russian forces have launched drones from ships before, El Mundo said. The paper cited a drone Swedish forces shot down in February 2026 and a drone attack on Leipzig Airport that German authorities blamed on Russia.

British expert Keir Giles told the paper that Southern Europe might be chosen for such an operation because of its “political fragility.” All three countries are due to hold elections in 2027.

Spain also lacks air defenses capable of effectively countering drone attacks from the sea, El Mundo said. “The target will be wherever Europe’s weakest point lies,” Giles said.

The Russian news outlet Agentstvo noted that, before El Mundo’s report appeared, the pro-war Telegram channel Rybar had published a post titled “Russkoye ‘lekarstvo’ ot frantsuzskogo vysokomeriya” (“A Russian ‘Cure’ for French Arrogance”). The post considered a scenario in which Geran-5 drones would be supplied to Algeria, saying they “would put an array of strategic sites in southern France within range — key air bases, nuclear power plants, and strategically important factories such as the Airbus production complex in Toulouse.”

Several military analysts told El Mundo on condition of anonymity that they knew about the CIA warning. They said French authorities took it seriously and increased their readiness for possible drone strikes.

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto responded to El Mundo’s report on X. “The alarm raised this morning by a Spanish newspaper about possible attacks on Italy, Spain and France by Russian ships and drones helps no one, and there’s no evidence to back it up. We’re already living through difficult and ‘tense’ times, and no one needs more fuel on the fire.” he said.

Over the past several weeks, Western media outlets have repeatedly said Russian authorities may escalate by intensifying hybrid warfare and sabotage targeting European countries allied with Ukraine.

Speaking in parliament in mid-September, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had information that Russia was planning “hybrid” strikes using missiles and drones.

Vladimir Putin, for his part, said Russia does not threaten European countries and has no intention of doing so, despite what “European elites” say. At the same time, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev threatened that Lithuania would “disappear from the map” if it decided to station nuclear weapons on its territory.

The war in photographs: Kyiv

Russia continues to strike Kyiv with drones and missiles. Two people were killed and a maternity hospital was damaged in a Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital overnight on September 24. The people inside the hospital were unharmed after reaching a basement shelter in time. A baby boy was born in the shelter during the attack, Ukrainska Pravda reported.