COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Denmark said on Thursday that drone incursions overnight, which briefly closed two airports and affected military installations, were hybrid attacks aimed at spreading fear, though authorities could not identify the perpetrators.
The incident, the second in two days in Denmark alone, is part of what some European officials see as a pattern of Russian disruption that has exposed the vulnerability of European airspace at a time of high tensions between Moscow and NATO.
Poland shot down suspected Russian drones in its airspace on September 10. Danish authorities said on Thursday they decided not to take down any of the drones in their airspace for safety reasons, despite the disruption caused to air traffic.
Russia’s embassy in Copenhagen rejected as “absurd” speculation about Moscow’s involvement in the Danish incursions.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she had spoken on Thursday with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte about the drone incidents and that they had agreed to work together to ensure security.
DENMARK’S UNPREPAREDNESS IN FOCUS
The incursions forced Aalborg airport, used for commercial and military flights, to shut for three hours, while Billund airport, Denmark’s second-largest, was closed for an hour, police said. Both reopened on Thursday morning.
Drones were also seen near Esbjerg and Sonderborg airports, as well as Skrydstrup airbase, home to Denmark’s F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, and over a military facility in Holstebro, police confirmed. They are all located in the western Jutland region.
“This shows at least that we do not have the capacity at present to prevent the intrusion of drones over our airports,” Peter Viggo Jakobsen, an associate professor at the Royal Danish Defence College, told Reuters.
“This is a hole in our preparedness.”
The incursions come after Denmark this year boosted its military budget to address acute shortcomings. Last week, it announced plans to acquire long-range precision weapons, while its decision to host Ukrainian missile fuel production near the Skrydstrup airbase has drawn criticism from Russia.
Police said the drones followed a similar pattern to those that halted flights at Copenhagen airport overnight into Tuesday.
“It certainly does not look like a coincidence. It looks systematic. This is what I would define as a hybrid attack,” Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told a press conference, adding that Denmark faced no direct military threat.
The head of Denmark’s armed forces, Michael Hyldgaard, acknowledged weaknesses in the country’s ability to counter drone attacks: “We have a wide range of capabilities in the Armed Forces, but we would like to have more.”
Danish opposition lawmaker Pelle Dragsted of the Red-Green Alliance slammed the government’s handling of the incidents, saying on X: “Billions (are being) allocated to defence … But no control over the most basic thing: Defence of our own vulnerable infrastructure.”
DENMARK HAS POINTED FINGER AT RUSSIA
Prime Minister Frederiksen called the Copenhagen incident the most serious “attack” yet on Denmark’s critical infrastructure and linked it to suspected Russian drone activities across Europe, though no evidence was provided.
Authorities in Norway also shut the airspace at Oslo airport for three hours on Monday evening after reports of a drone flying in the area.
Danish analyst Jakobsen also pointed the finger at Moscow.
“So the Russians – if it’s them, and I think it is – are doing what they’ve been really good at for a long time: they’re going right to the edge of what would trigger a military response from NATO, but not over it,” he said.
Poulsen stressed on Thursday that there was no evidence linking the recent drone activities to Russia. He also said Denmark had not yet decided whether to follow Poland’s example this month and invoke NATO’s Article 4, which allows members to request consultations over any security concerns.
The drone incursions come as Denmark, current holder of the European Union’s rotating presidency, prepares to host EU leaders in Copenhagen next week.
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Stine Jacobsen, Maria Laguna, Søren Sirich Jeppesen, Anna Ringström and Terje Solsvik; Additional reporting by John Irish and Gwladys Fouche. Editing by Gareth Jones)
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