Pro-Russian information campaigns are actively exploiting the topic of drone incursions across European airspace to undermine trust in local governments and weaken public support for Ukraine, a new report from Google’s Threat Intelligence Team (GTIG) says.
GTIG observed multiple coordinated disinformation operations across Europe following several recent drone incidents, including the September 2025 violation of Polish airspace by at least three Russian drones, which were subsequently shot down. GTIG’s report details three Russia-linked operations, including Portal Kombat, Doppelganger, and Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny, that used the incidents to manipulate public perception via fake news websites and social media networks.
The actors created false or misleading articles suggesting that European governments were incapable of defending their airspace, casting doubt on NATO’s credibility and questioning continued support for Ukraine. Some stories portrayed Russia as a victim, accused Poland and its allies of fabricating the incident to advance political goals, and dismissed video evidence of drones as fake. Others claimed that Poland’s policies toward Ukraine were harming its economy and security, attempting to sow domestic divisions.
The campaign was not limited to Poland. GTIG has observed similar pro-Russian narratives emerging after drone sightings near Danish airports and airbases, airspace violations in Romania and Estonia, and balloon-related flight disruptions in Lithuania. The report also noted that past incidents, such as parcel fires at DHL warehouses, have been tied to individuals linked with Russian intelligence.
Disinformation networks like Portal Kombat and Doppelganger have circulated multilingual stories framing NATO’s response to these incursions as “war hysteria,” alleging that Western governments are using the threat of Russian drones to justify military escalation. In Germany, one false report claimed that NATO exaggerated the danger to provoke confrontation with Russia.
“Covert information operations and the spread of disinformation are increasingly key components of Russian state-aligned actors' efforts to advance their interests in the context of conflict,” the GTIG team noted. “The use of covert influence tactics in these instances is manifold: at minimum, it undermines society’s ability to establish a fact-based understanding of potential threats in real-time by diluting the information environment with noise; in tandem, it is also used to both shape realities on the ground and project messaging strategically aligned with one’s interests—both domestically and to international audiences abroad.”