‘I’d be very happy’: Trump says losing phone signal is sometimes ‘a good thing’ after Von der Leyen’s plane hit by suspected Russian jamming
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘I’d be very happy’: Trump says losing phone signal is sometimes ‘a good thing’ after Von der Leyen’s plane hit by suspected Russian jamming")
US President Donald Trump Photograph: (Reuters)
Donald Trump downplayed concerns over suspected Russian jamming, saying he’d be “happy” to lose phone access himself, after Ursula von der Leyen’s jet suffered GPS disruption en route to Bulgaria.
US President Donald Trump brushed off concerns over electronic warfare on Tuesday (September 02), saying he would be “happy” if his own ability to use a phone was taken away. His comments came after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s aircraft suffered satellite disruption suspected to be caused by Russia. When asked about the incident, Trump said, “Well, nobody knows where it came from, but they did take away her ability to use a phone. You know, sometimes that’s a good thing. Sometimes that could happen to me, I’d be very happy.”
What happened to von der Leyen’s flight?
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s jet had lost GPS signal while flying to Plovdiv, Bulgaria, on Sunday. The aircraft landed safely, but the episode added to a growing list of suspected Russian jamming incidents. Western governments believe Moscow has been behind nearly 80 such cases since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Officials in Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have repeatedly warned about Russian electronic disruption affecting civilian aircraft, ships and drones. In one case last year, a plane carrying the UK defence secretary was also jammed near Russian territory. A Finnish airline even suspended flights to Estonia’s Tartu after repeated navigation problems.
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NATO vows to step up response
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the alliance was working “day and night” to prevent further incidents. Speaking in Luxembourg on Tuesday, he described the jamming as part of a broader Russian campaign of “hybrid threats”. “It is taken very seriously,” Rutte said, citing other suspected actions by Moscow, including the cutting of Baltic undersea cables, a cyberattack on Britain’s National Health Service, and an alleged plot to kill a German industrialist. Neither Russia nor von der Leyen has commented publicly on the jamming episode.
Moscow insists its electronic interference is defensive, aimed at shielding critical military areas from Ukrainian drone attacks. But Baltic officials say the reach of jamming now extends far from Russia’s borders, affecting civilian safety.
