Copenhagen. Denmark’s defence ministry has confirmed that new drones have been spotted in the vicinity of several defence facilities in the country from Friday to Saturday night. In the past, airports in the Nordic region had to temporarily shut down operations after drones were spotted.

The ministry did not say exactly where the drone was spotted, but Danish public broadcaster DR said the drone was spotted in the vicinity of the military Krupp air base and also inside its enclosure at around 8 pm, citing a police source.

Although the airspace was closed for civilian aviation for some time, it did not have much direct impact as there is no civilian flight at present.

Similar activity at four airports, including in Copenhagen, from Wednesday to Thursday night has added to security concerns in northern Europe. A drone that was spotted in the capital on Monday night disrupted flights for hours.

“The main purpose of these drone activities is to create fear and division,” Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard warned. He also said that if necessary, a law is being introduced to allow infrastructure operators to directly drop drones.

The defence ministry said it had accepted Sweden’s proposal to provide Denmark with military anti-drone capabilities ahead of an EU summit.

Several drones were also spotted in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein between Thursday and Friday night. The state’s interior minister, Sabine Suterlin-Walk, said drone defense measures have “now been significantly enhanced in tandem with those of other states.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, “We are not at war, but we are no longer in peace.”

While he did not directly blame any specific country, he warned that “drone flights, espionage, threats to public figures, cyberattacks and sabotage are happening on a daily basis”.

He cited the 2019 Berlin Tiergarten massacre as an example. In this case, Zelim Khan Khangosvili, a Georgian citizen who fought Russia, was killed. Vladimir Krasichkov was extradited to Moscow in 2024 as part of a Russian-US prisoner swap.

The latest developments have alerted security apparatus in northern Europe and signalled that regional cooperation is still indispensable in the face of possible external aggression or hybrid warfare.