Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen advised reporters the choice would create a ‘credible deterrence’ in opposition to 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 mentioned.
In a agency rebuke of Moscow, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen advised journalists Wednesday that Russia would represent a menace to Denmark for “years to come back” even when there isn’t any 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 mentioned, including that the choice represented a “paradigm shift in Danish defence coverage”.
Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen mentioned 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) enlargement 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 in opposition to United States President Donald Trump’s repeated assertions that he needs to amass Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Final month, Denmark summoned the US’s cost d’affaires in Denmark after a public broadcaster printed a report that three US residents had covertly tried to shift Greenlanders’ opinions in opposition to Denmark.
“Any interference in inside affairs within the kingdom of Denmark and Greenlandic democracy is unacceptable,” Frederiksen mentioned on the time, emphasising that “the Individuals haven’t clearly rejected” the report.
Billions head to Ukraine from PURL
Ukraine is in the meantime hoping to obtain a serious enhance to its weapons provide by means of the Precedence Ukraine Necessities Checklist (PURL) initiative, a brand new mechanism that enables NATO states to finance the switch of US-sourced weapons and know-how to Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned Wednesday that Ukraine expects to obtain about $3.5bn to $3.6bn by means of 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 the town of Zaporizhzhia, the place Russian forces killed not less than one particular person and injured 18 extra earlier this week. One other particular person 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 almost 190 missiles in opposition to Ukraine up to now in September, in accordance with Zelenskyy.
Nonetheless, the president has projected an air of confidence, writing on X Wednesday that Russia has misplaced “a lot manpower” in latest preventing, he believes “they lack the energy for large-scale offensives”.
Lithuanian prosecutors additionally charged 15 individuals 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.
