Denmark suffered a “systematic” and “professional” hybrid attack when drones were spotted by police at four regional airports including two used by the military, ministers in the Scandinavian country have said.
Unauthorised drones closed Aalborg, Denmark’s third-largest airport and used by commercial and military aircraft, for more than three hours on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
Local police said they had also seen drones at the smaller airports of Esbjerg, Sonderborg and Skrydstrup in western Denmark. The latter is home to some of Denmark’s fleet of F-16 and F-35 fighter jets.
“It looks systematic, and what I would define as a hybrid attack,” said Troels Lund Poulsen, defence minister.
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Peter Hummelgaard, justice minister, said: “The goal with this kind of hybrid attack is to create fear and divisions, and make us scared.”
The sightings occurred days after two to three large drones closed airspace over Copenhagen airport for four hours. Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen refused to rule out Russian involvement, after that country’s aircraft and drones recently violated the airspace of Poland, Romania and Estonia.
Denmark’s defence forces also confirmed a drone sighting over the base of the Jutland Dragoon Regiment in Holstebro, in the west of the country.
“The Danish armed forces may choose to take down drones over military installations, taking into account the specific threat and risk assessment,” it said after Denmark’s chief of defence earlier said it decided not to after Thursday’s incidents.
The defence and justice ministers refused to connect Russia to the latest drone sightings as there remained many unanswered questions, they said, including who controlled the drones and where they came from and flew to.
“I take it seriously. We can’t live with this. So we’re putting a lot of effort into it,” said Thorkild Fogde, head of Danish police, on Thursday.
Russia’s embassy in Denmark said it “firmly rejects the absurd speculations of involvement in the incidents”, adding that they were a “staged provocation” set to be used “as a pretext for further escalating tension”.
Danish police said they had received scores of observations of drones from the public on Thursday, including a sighting near Danish oilfields.
They said there were also unverified reports of drones at airports in Billund and on Bornholm, a strategic island in the Baltic Sea. Denmark’s armed forces and intelligence services are helping the investigation.
One possible scenario for the drone sightings at Copenhagen airport on Monday evening and Tuesday morning is that they could have been launched from a nearby ship, something also under investigation in Germany after drone sightings near military bases and critical infrastructure sites.
Nato has responded to violations of European airspace by launching Operation Eastern Sentry to boost air defence in frontline states. But experts have said most European countries do not have a reliable strategy against often cheap drones, and are either not able to shoot them down or have to depend on expensive weaponry such as fighter jets or surface-to-air missiles.
Ms Frederiksen said on X on Thursday that she had spoken about the “serious situation related to drones over Danish airports” with Nato secretary general Mark Rutte. “We agreed that Nato would work with Denmark on what we can do together to ensure safety and security,” she said.
Defence ministers from eastern frontline states will meet on Friday to discuss plans to construct a “drone wall”, while EU leaders will hold an informal summit in Copenhagen next week to talk about defence and support for Ukraine.
[ Polish president to push Berlin for help against Russian drone incursionsOpens in new window ]
Several opposition parties sharply criticised the centrist Danish government for not being prepared for the drone warfare that has been taking place in Ukraine, more than three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Pelle Dragsted, MP for the Red-Green Alliance, called the drone incursions “a gigantic failure” by a government that had spent massively on the military but had “no control over the most basic thing: the defence of our own vulnerable infrastructure”.
Mette Abildgaard, a Conservative MP, told broadcaster DR: “If I’m being completely honest, it is in many ways a humiliation for Denmark.”
Mr Poulsen conceded that Denmark did not have the technology to take down some types of drones. Mr Hummelgaard said the government would prepare a new law giving owners of critical infrastructure the authority to shoot down drones.
Denmark has been one of the most enthusiastic supporters of Ukraine and has aggressively increased its own military spending, including purchases of mid- and long-range air defences and missiles capable of striking Russia.
The Danish government has also amended several laws to allow the fast-track approval of a Ukrainian defence factory, close to Skrydstrup airbase, which is set to make fuel to power missiles.
– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
