Denmark has described the drone incursions that shut down two major Nordic airports as an “attack”. The incident occurred after a series of similar events, including more than a dozen Russian drones entering Polish airspace and a Russian MiG-31 flight into Estonian airspace. The Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, stated that the disruption at Copenhagen Airport was “the most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date”.
The drones appeared in the airspace over the airports in Copenhagen and Oslo, shutting down both hubs for hours and leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded. The Danish authorities have not ruled out Russian involvement, with Prime Minister Frederiksen saying that she was “not ruling out any options in relation to who is behind this”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated his opinion that Russia was behind the Nordic drone incursions, and European Union foreign policy spokesperson Anitta Hipper agreed with the assessment that the incidents conformed with a pattern of nefarious Russian activity.
Russia has denied involvement in the Copenhagen drone incident, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters that the accusations were “unfounded”. However, the EU is taking the incident seriously, with a meeting scheduled to discuss a “drone wall” and NATO declaring that Russia’s actions over Estonia were “escalatory, risk miscalculation [and] endanger lives”.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that it was too early to talk about what had caused the disruption, but officials are now talking more openly about the prospect of shooting down Russian aircraft. Rutte stated that NATO “will act decisively and quickly” if the need arises, and that the Russians know that if necessary, NATO will not hesitate.
The incident has raised concerns about the security of European airspace and the potential for further escalation between Russia and NATO. The EU and NATO are taking steps to strengthen their defenses and deterrence posture, including through effective air defense. The situation remains tense, with the potential for further incidents and escalation in the coming days.