Denmark: New drone sightings over military infrastructure

What do we know about the latest drone sightings?

The Danish armed forces stopped short of identifying the exact location of the drone sightings.

But the French AFP news agency and Ritzau News agency cited the police as saying the sightings were reported over the Karup air base in western Denmark, the main base of the Royal Danish Air Force.

"I can confirm that we had an incident around 8:15 pm (1815 GMT Friday) that lasted for some hours. One to two drones were observed outside and over the airbase," duty officer Simon Skelsjaer told AFP, referring to the Karup military base.

Skelsjaer said police could not comment on where the drones came from, adding that police were cooperating with the military in their investigation.

"We didn't take them down," the officer said of the drones.

The Karup base shares its runways with the Midtjylland civilian airport. Skelsjaer said the latter was briefly closed though due to the sightings, but with little impact as no commercial flights were scheduled at that hour.

Copenhagen calls slew of drone sightings 'hybrid attacks'

The sighting is the latest in a series that has caused the Nordic country to temporarily close several airports as it dealt with what Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called "hybrid attacks."

Commenting on the drones over Copenhagen Airport earlier this week, Frederiksen described them as "the most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date."

The drone incursions followed similar incidents in Poland and Romania and the violation of Estonian airspace by Russian fighter jets, which have raised tensions amid Russia's ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine.