Denmark to buy ‘long-range’ weapons amid Russia ‘paradigm shift’ | Russia-Ukraine war News

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen informed reporters the choice would create a ‘credible deterrence’ towards Russia.

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 informed journalists Wednesday that Russia would represent a risk to Denmark for “years to return” even when there is no such thing as a imminent hazard of an assault.

“With these weapons, the defence forces will be capable of 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 army to “purchase, purchase, purchase” when shifting forward with a 50 billion crown ($7.9bn) growth of army spending over the subsequent two years – a dramatic reversal after many years 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 desires to amass 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 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 increase to its weapons provide via the Precedence Ukraine Necessities Record (PURL) initiative, a brand new mechanism that enables NATO states to finance the switch of US-sourced weapons and expertise to Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned Wednesday that Ukraine expects to obtain about $3.5bn to $3.6bn via 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 have 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 towards Ukraine to this point in September, in line 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 power for large-scale offensives”.

Lithuanian prosecutors additionally charged 15 folks in reference to DHL parcels that exploded throughout courier depots in Europe final yr, which they allege have been organised by Russian operatives with ties to Russian army intelligence.