Garda anti-drone teams and snipers sprang into action for surprise US-Ukraine talks

A rapid-reaction security force was assembled and put in place to secure a meeting in Dublin between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and US envoys on Thursday night. Garda and Defence Forces sniper teams, as well as anti-drone professionals, worked alongside US and Ukrainian security personnel.The meeting, which took place at short notice at the Air Corps Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel, was between Zelenskiy and US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said 200 Garda personnel were on anti-drone duties, and had equipment capable of taking drones out of the skies. Some were diverted to Baldonnel for the US-Ukraine meeting, which was not known about in advance, while the Defence Forces also had an anti-drone capability on site.READ MORE“It came at very short notice, we weren’t aware of it,” Kelly said of the meeting. “But part of our planning for these [European] meetings was that we would have contingencies in place and be ready to deal with dynamic situations like this. Of course, we had to get President Zelenskiy out there, to work out the timing, to meet the two US envoys. “We secured the location. There was a significant security operation there, around counter-drone and sniper teams, close protection teams, tactical teams in place. We also worked very closely with US colleagues and Ukrainian security personnel.”[ Ukraine dominates agenda as Europe’s leaders attend EPC summit in DublinOpens in new window ]Zelenskiy arrived in Dublin on Wednesday night and attended the European Political Community (EPC) meeting in the Convention Centre on Thursday.Kushner and Witkoff flew into Baldonnel on Thursday evening, from Moscow, after a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin. The security operation continued after the talks at Baldonnel on US efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.Zelenskiy flew out of Baldonnel while Kushner and Witkoff were brought across Dublin in an armed convoy before flying out of Dublin Airport on a separate plane.The meeting took place amid the biggest security operation ever undertaken in the Republic, for the EPC and Friday’s informal meeting of the European Council.Overall, Kelly described the escorting of up to 50 heads of state to venues in Dublin, including to and from the airport, as “highly complex with a lot of moving parts”.While the informal meeting of the European Council was continuing in Dublin on Friday as Kelly spoke, he said the day was proceeding well, with no major incidents.“We have to make sure all those heads of state who are still in the country leave safely after the conclusion of today’s meeting,” he added of the European Union leaders taking part in the summit, also at the Convention Centre.Kelly added there were a number of policing firsts on the ground on Thursday, including the deployment of 200 anti-drone gardaí across Dublin while 400 Public Order Unit gardaí were on standby – the biggest group ever assembled – for a protest on Thursday evening. That protest, which was pro-Palestine and anti-war in nature, passed off peacefully, with up to 1,000 people marching from O’Connell Street to Leinster House.Kelly said “some people did come to confront” gardaí in Dublin on Thursday and a “small number” of arrests were made. A hoax device, and hoax-bomb call against a business in Dublin on Thursday night, were investigated but quickly classified as false alarms.The device was left in the toilets of Connolly Station in Dublin’s north inner city and consisted of several pipes and a box, which gardaí said was “very crude”.Kelly insisted there was never any risk to world leaders attending the summits in Dublin, or to the public. He said none of the events in the city for Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the EU were impacted by the threats that were quickly deemed as “not credible”.While it was feared drone incursions may be an issue on Thursday and Friday as Ireland hosted the biggest events of its six-month presidency, Kelly said this had not been in the case. He explained the anti-drone teams had reported very little drone activity over Dublin, unlike during previous EU events when drones that were “not nefarious” were flown.