European positions on Russia harden as drone incidents, cyber-attacks and sabotage mount

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Europe must take a more aggressive approach with Russia by shooting down drones that enter European airspace and boarding shadow fleet ships illicitly transporting oil to deprive Moscow of war revenue, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.

Speaking at a European summit in Copenhagen, Macron and other European leaders called for more sanctions against Russia — notably targeting its energy sector — and emphasized that Ukraine is on the front line in a widening hybrid war against Europe.

Indeed, the positions of some of Europe’s leaders toward the continuing drone incidents, acts of sabotage, cyber-attacks and sanction-busting appear to have hardened over two days of talks in Copenhagen, including a closed session among them without phones or advisors.

Macron urged the more than 40 leaders at the European Political Community summit to simply protect their interests without signaling their intentions to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I think the main answer should be more unpredictability and more strategic ambiguity,” he said.

“It’s very important to have a clear message: drones which would violate our territories are just taking a big risk. They can be destroyed, full stop,” he said. “We are not here to provide the full notice. We will do what we have to do.”

Macron pointed to a decision by French authorities to stop an oil tanker on the European Union's shadow fleet sanction list, and detain two of its crew, as an effective way to act. Naval experts believe the ship may have been involved in drone flights over Denmark.

He said that Russia finances “30 to 40% of the war effort” via the shadow fleet.

Macron said that by seizing the ships, for a week or two, “we completely break the efficiency of the organization. So the shadow fleet is a very good target if you want to improve our efficiency to reduce these capacities.”

He said that the same ship was checked by Estonian authorities in March.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who hosted the summit days after a series of drone incidents at Denmark’s airports and military bases, said: “It must be clear to everyone now, Russia will not stop until they are forced to do so.”

Russia, she said, is “a threat not only to Ukraine but to all of us. Today, we have one major task ahead of us. We have to make our common Europe so strong that the war against us becomes unthinkable, and we have to do it now.”

Frederiksen warned her partners that Europe “can no longer be naive. The war was never just about Ukraine. It is about Europe. All our nations, all our citizens, our values and our freedom.”

After the meeting, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that “Putin should not underestimate our determination. There is truly a very strong unity and there is a very firm resolve to confront this aggression together and for that I am extremely grateful.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk urged the leaders to abandon any “illusions” they might have about Russia’s intentions. He said that Poland has been a constant victim of Russian intimidation, most notably a major drone intrusion last month.

Poland has since vowed to shoot down Russian drones that enter its airspace.

“The first illusion was, and is, that there’s no war,” Tusk said, referring to those who talk about the war in Ukraine as a “full-scale aggression” or use other euphemisms. “No. It’s war. A new type of war. Very complex, but it’s war.”

Another illusion, Tusk said, is “that it is impossible for Ukraine and for all of us to win this war. It’s absurd. The only Russian advantage, the only one, is mentality. We are much bigger than them,” in terms of economic might and population, he said.

Tusk, whose country borders Belarus and Ukraine, added: “We know that if they win against Ukraine, it is also in the future the end of my country and of Europe. I have no doubts.”

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that it was important to ramp up economic pressure on Putin.

“The economic pressure is having an effect, and we need to continue that. Pressure through further sanctions, bearing down on energy in particular, and on the shadow fleet,” Starmer said before leaving the summit early to return to the U.K. after an attack outside a synagogue in Manchester, England.

It's also vital to put “Ukraine in the strongest possible position, and that then means more on air defenses, more on long-range (missiles) and anti-drone” capabilities that must be sent to the country, which is now in its fourth year of war, Starmer said.

Britain's Prime Minister Kier Starmer, right, talks to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left , prior to a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) in Copenhagen, Denmark, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Front from left, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen leave after a family photo during a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) in Copenhagen, Denmark, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, front row center left, speaks to French President Emmanuel Macron as he stands with Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and other heads of state, including Italian Premier Giorgia Melon, front row fourth from right, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, right, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, fourth from left, during a family photo at the European Political Community summit, in Copenhagen, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (Suzanne Plunkett/Pool Photo via AP)

From left, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk talk during a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) in Copenhagen, Denmark, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

A federal appeals panel on Thursday reversed a lower court decision that released former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from an immigration jail, bringing the government one step closer to detaining and ultimately deporting the Palestinian activist.

The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t decide the key issue in Khalil’s case: whether the Trump administration’s effort to throw Khalil out of the U.S. over his campus activism and criticism of Israel is unconstitutional.

But in its 2-1 decision, the panel ruled a federal judge in New Jersey didn’t have jurisdiction to decide the matter at this time. Federal law requires the case to fully move through the immigration courts first, before Khalil can challenge the decision, they wrote.

“That scheme ensures that petitioners get just one bite at the apple — not zero or two,” the panel wrote. “But it also means that some petitioners, like Khalil, will have to wait to seek relief for allegedly unlawful government conduct.”

Thursday’s decision marked a major win for the Trump administration’s sweeping campaign to detain and deport noncitizens who joined protests against Israel.

Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security Department spokesperson, called the ruling “a vindication of the rule of law.”

In a statement, she said the department will “work to enforce his lawful removal order” and encouraged Khalil to “self-deport now before he is arrested, deported, and never given a chance to return.”

It was not clear whether the government would seek to detain Khalil, a legal permanent resident, again while his legal challenges continue.

In a statement distributed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Khalil called the appeals ruling “deeply disappointing."

“The door may have been opened for potential re-detainment down the line, but it has not closed our commitment to Palestine and to justice and accountability," he said. "I will continue to fight, through every legal avenue and with every ounce of determination, until my rights, and the rights of others like me, are fully protected.”

Baher Azmy, one of Khalil's lawyers, said the ruling was “contrary to rulings of other federal courts."

“Our legal options are by no means concluded, and we will fight with every available avenue,” he said.

The ACLU said the Trump administration cannot lawfully re-detain Khalil until the order takes formal effect, which won't happen while he can still immediately appeal.

Khalil’s lawyers can request that the panel's decision be set aside and the matter reconsidered by a larger group of judges on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, or they can go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

An outspoken leader of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia, Khalil was arrested last March. He then spent three months detained in a Louisiana immigration jail, missing the birth of his first child.

Federal officials have accused Khalil of leading activities “aligned to Hamas,” though they have not presented evidence to support the claim and have not accused him of criminal conduct. They also accused Khalil, 31, of failing to disclose information on his green card application.

The government justified the arrest under a seldom-used statute that allows for the expulsion of noncitizens whose beliefs are deemed to pose a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests.

In June, a federal judge in New Jersey ruled that justification would likely be declared unconstitutional and ordered Khalil released.

President Donald Trump's administration appealed that ruling, arguing the deportation decision should fall to an immigration judge, rather than a federal court.

Khalil has dismissed the allegations as “baseless and ridiculous,” framing his arrest and detention as a “direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza.”

New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said on social media Thursday that Khalil should remain free.

“Last year’s arrest of Mahmoud Khalil was more than just a chilling act of political repression, it was an attack on all of our constitutional rights,” Mamdani wrote on X. “Now, as the crackdown on pro-Palestinian free speech continues, Mahmoud is being threatened with rearrest. Mahmoud is free — and must remain free.”

Judge Arianna Freeman dissented Thursday, writing that her colleagues were holding Khalil to the wrong legal standard. Khalil, she wrote, is raising “now-or-never claims” that can be handled at the district court level, even though his immigration case isn't complete.

Both judges who ruled against Khalil, Thomas Hardiman and Stephanos Bibas, were Republican appointees. President George W. Bush appointed Hardiman to the 3rd Circuit, while Trump appointed Bibas. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, appointed Freeman.

The two-judge majority rejected Freeman's worry that their decision would leave Khalil with no remedy for unconstitutional immigration detention, even if he later can appeal.

“But our legal system routinely forces petitioners — even those with meritorious claims — to wait to raise their arguments," the judges wrote.

The decision comes as an appeals board in the immigration court system weighs a previous order that found Khalil could be deported to Algeria, where he maintains citizenship through a distant relative, or Syria, where he was born in a refugee camp to a Palestinian family.

His attorneys have said he faces mortal danger if forced to return to either country.

Associated Press writers Larry Neumeister and Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this story.

FILE - Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil holds a news conference outside Federal Court on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025 in Philadelphia (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)