At the commemoration of Brabant soldiers and resistance people in Waalre on Wednesday evening, outgoing Minister of Defense Ruben Brekelmans also considered the tensions in today’s Europe. The minister from Oisterwijk tells Omroep Brabant that he finds the Russian drones that flew into Polish airspace on Tuesday night ‘worrying’. According to him, a memorial like Wednesday shows that we must actively defend our freedom.
Brekelmans, who grew up in Kaatsheuvel and lives in Oisterwijk, gave a penetrating speech on Wednesday evening during the 81st commemoration of Brabant fallen in Waalre.
“Actively defending the importance of freedom.”
“What happened in the Second World War is worth remembering, but there is also a lot of connection with this time,” the minister told Omroep Brabant afterwards. “It shows the importance that we must actively defend our freedom.”
That happened on Tuesday night when F-35s from the airbase in Volkel had to intervene in Poland. The fighter jets managed to intercept Russian drones that had entered the Polish airspace.
A tank plane from Eindhoven Air Base also had to assist. It was a short night for the outgoing defense minister. “But I don’t need permission from me before the fighter jets are deployed. They acted immediately and I was informed later,” he says.
“Nineteen violations of the airspace is worrying.”
Although the drones have been brought down, the minister is not comfortable with it. “We have had to deal with Russian drones in the NATO territory more often, but there are one or two. Nineteen violations of the airspace such as Tuesday is worrying,” he says.
It raises the question of how long we can still commemorate in Peace in Brabant. “I always say: we don’t live at war, but also not in peace. We are in a gray area in between,” says Brekelmans
For example, he refers to earlier digital attacks by Russian groups at, for example, municipalities and provinces. “NATO is the shield for our safety, but it also ensures that we are immediately involved when something like that happens as in Poland.”
