Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen informed reporters the choice would create a ‘credible deterrence’ towards Russia.
Revealed On 18 Sep 2025
Denmark will purchase long-range, high-precision weapons for the primary time in an effort to discourage Russia, its prime minister has stated.
In a agency rebuke of Moscow, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen informed journalists Wednesday that Russia would represent a menace to Denmark for “years to come back” even when there is no such thing as a imminent hazard of an assault.
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“With these weapons, the defence forces will be capable to hit targets at lengthy vary and, for instance, neutralise enemy missile threats,” she stated, including that the choice represented a “paradigm shift in Danish defence coverage”.
Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen stated the federal government would search to construct up missiles and drones, however didn’t specify which weapons.
The announcement got here after Denmark’s largest arms buy ever final week, amounting to 58 billion Danish crowns ($9.2bn), of European-made air defence programs. In February, Frederiksen urged the navy to “purchase, purchase, purchase” when shifting forward with a 50 billion crown ($7.9bn) growth of navy spending over the following two years – a dramatic reversal after a long time of cuts.
It was not instantly clear on Wednesday how a lot Denmark deliberate to spend on the long-range weapons.
Aside from Russia, Frederiksen has additionally been outspoken towards United States President Donald Trump’s repeated assertions that he needs to accumulate Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Final month, Denmark summoned the US’s cost d’affaires in Denmark after a public broadcaster revealed a report that three US residents had covertly tried to shift Greenlanders’ opinions towards Denmark.
“Any interference in inside affairs within the kingdom of Denmark and Greenlandic democracy is unacceptable,” Frederiksen stated on the time, emphasising that “the People haven’t clearly rejected” the report.
Billions head to Ukraine from PURL
Ukraine is in the meantime hoping to obtain a significant increase to its weapons provide by the Precedence Ukraine Necessities Checklist (PURL) initiative, a brand new mechanism that permits NATO states to finance the switch of US-sourced weapons and expertise to Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated Wednesday that Ukraine expects to obtain about $3.5bn to $3.6bn by PURL by October, with Western air defence programs among the many first US weapons to be despatched.
The enhancement arrives amid sustained Russian assaults in southern Ukraine, together with town of Zaporizhzhia, the place Russian forces killed no less than one individual and injured 18 extra earlier this week. One other individual was killed within the Mykolaiv area, and two extra had been injured within the metropolis of Kharkiv within the nation’s northeast.
All through September, Russia has launched greater than 3,500 drones and practically 190 missiles towards Ukraine thus far in September, based on Zelenskyy.
Nonetheless, the president has projected an air of confidence, writing on X Wednesday that Russia has misplaced “a lot manpower” in current preventing, he believes “they lack the energy for large-scale offensives”.
Lithuanian prosecutors additionally charged 15 folks in reference to DHL parcels that exploded throughout courier depots in Europe final 12 months, which they allege had been organised by Russian operatives with ties to Russian navy intelligence.
