Denmark to buy ‘long-range’ weapons amid Russia ‘paradigm shift’

Denmark will acquire long-range, high-precision weapons for the first time in an effort to deter Russia, its prime minister has said.

In a firm rebuke of Moscow, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told journalists Wednesday that Russia would constitute a threat to Denmark for “years to come” even if there is no imminent danger of an attack.

“With these weapons, the defence forces will be able to hit targets at long range and, for example, neutralise enemy missile threats,” she said, adding that the decision represented a “paradigm shift in Danish defence policy”.

Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the government would seek to build up missiles and drones, but did not specify which weapons.

The announcement came after Denmark’s largest arms purchase ever last week, amounting to 58 billion Danish crowns ($9.2bn), of European-made air defence systems. In February, Frederiksen urged the military to “buy, buy, buy” when moving ahead with a 50 billion crown ($7.9bn) expansion of military spending over the next two years – a dramatic reversal after decades of cuts.

It was not immediately clear on Wednesday how much Denmark planned to spend on the long-range weapons.

Apart from Russia, Frederiksen has also been outspoken against United States President Donald Trump’s repeated assertions that he wants to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory.

Last month, Denmark summoned the US’s charge d’affaires in Denmark after a public broadcaster published a report that three US citizens had covertly tried to shift Greenlanders’ opinions against Denmark.

“Any interference in internal affairs in the kingdom of Denmark and Greenlandic democracy is unacceptable,” Frederiksen said at the time, emphasising that “the Americans have not clearly rejected” the report.

Ukraine is meanwhile hoping to receive a major boost to its weapons supply through the Priority Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative, a new mechanism that allows NATO states to finance the transfer of US-sourced weapons and technology to Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Ukraine expects to receive about $3.5bn to $3.6bn through PURL by October, with Western air defence systems among the first US weapons to be sent.

The enhancement arrives amid sustained Russian attacks in southern Ukraine, including the city of Zaporizhzhia, where Russian forces killed at least one person and injured 18 more earlier this week. Another person was killed in the Mykolaiv region, and two more were injured in the city of Kharkiv in the country’s northeast.

Throughout September, Russia has launched more than 3,500 drones and nearly 190 missiles against Ukraine so far in September, according to Zelenskyy.

Still, the president has projected an air of confidence, writing on X Wednesday that Russia has lost “so much manpower” in recent fighting, he believes “they lack the strength for large-scale offensives”.

Lithuanian prosecutors also charged 15 people in connection with DHL parcels that exploded across courier depots in Europe last year, which they allege were organised by Russian operatives with ties to Russian military intelligence.