Is Putin stepping up his hybrid war? Fridges are hacked, planes diverted by bomb threats and Russian troops show signs of new European incursion

On Tuesday, a series of hoax bomb threats sparked flight chaos across Europe with multiple passenger jets forced to make emergency landings. At least six flights were targeted, with some forced to divert before being searched on the ground, while one Ryanair jet from Dublin to Rome was accompanied by an Italian fighter jet.

Two of the grounded flights took off from the UK before making unscheduled landings due to the mid-air security scares. At Rome's Fiumicino airport, bomb disposal experts searched two Ryanair flights - one originating from Lisbon and the other from Dublin - following anonymous tips.

A flight from Heathrow to Warsaw and a Ryanair service from Manchester to Murcia in southern Spain also received threats this morning. Flights from Copenhagen to Warsaw and from Bergamo to Sofia were grounded after similar threats.

Cyberattacks on supermarkets

British supermarkets have been placed on high alert after cyber hackers hit shops across Europe, seizing control of their fridges and freezers. The National Cyber Security Centre has warned retailers to stay alert after the attacks, which have caused widespread damage.

Dozens of supermarkets in Belgium, Sweden, Ireland, Luxembourg and Estonia have been targeted – just weeks after hackers turned up the temperatures of cooling units in hundreds of French grocery stores. The latest attack involved fridges manufactured by Belgian firm Sabcobel, whose units' evaporators were switched to defrost mode, causing temperatures to spike from -27C to 50C in some cases.

Polish border alert

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced he sent armed forces to the Russian border amid fears of an armed incursion. The move comes after his country foiled a potential 'provocation' overnight on its border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

Tusk said he was informed just after midnight of suspicious activity on Poland's northern border. 'We very quickly mobilized the necessary security forces and means on site, and we successfully prevented any attempted acts of provocation, if that was the intention,' he stated.

The incident followed weeks of warnings from Polish and allied intelligence that 'acts of diversion or more serious provocation' could target Poland's border with Russia, including 'the intrusion of armed individuals into Polish territory'. Tusk warned that Poland could face a prolonged 'escalation from the Russian side'.

Sabotage networks

Meanwhile, a sabotage network was uncovered in Romania whose members were acting on behalf of Russian intelligence agencies and preparing attacks on defence industry facilities in the EU. The Romanian Intelligence Service identified a group of three people involved in an attempted arson attack on the Carfil arms manufacturing plant in Brașov.

The investigation established that these people, who were citizens of post-Soviet states legally residing in EU countries, were involved in preparing the operation. Russian handlers had identified several potential targets across the region, including state-owned and private defence industry enterprises.

It comes as US-brokered talks between Kyiv and Moscow are set to take place in Abu Dhabi next week. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had so far seen no sign that Russia was willing to engage seriously in talks aimed at ending the war. 'It is important that Russia finally and seriously engages in negotiations about a ceasefire and a subsequent peace agreement,' Merz said alongside Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin.