Britain is deploying specialists and equipment to Belgium to assist in tackling a series of disruptive drone sightings that have temporarily shut down airports, the head of the UK armed forces said on Sunday.

Over the past week, drones have been observed over several Belgian airports and military sites, part of a wave of incidents that has caused widespread disruption across Europe in recent months.

Admiral Sir Richard Knighton told the BBC that Belgium had requested support, and that personnel and equipment were already being dispatched. “The defence secretary and I agreed at the end of last week that we would send our people and our equipment to Belgium to assist them,” he said, without providing details about the type of equipment or the number of personnel involved.

Knighton added that the source of the drone activity remained unclear but noted that Russia had engaged in “hybrid warfare” tactics in recent years — a claim Moscow denies.

The drone sightings over airports in Brussels and Liege forced the diversion of flights and the grounding of several departures on Tuesday, while similar incidents temporarily closed airports in Sweden on Thursday.

Germany’s defence minister suggested on Friday that the recent drone incidents in Belgium may be linked to discussions over using frozen Russian assets, held by the Belgian firm Euroclear, to finance a substantial loan to Ukraine.

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