A mobile radar installation to detect drones stands at a Danish military site near the village of Dragoer, Denmark, on Friday. Photo by Steven Knap/EPA
Sept. 29 (UPI) — Denmark will ban all civilian drones beginning Monday over safety concerns as Copenhagen prepares to host an EU summit on European defense.
Transport Minister Thomas Danielsen announced the airspace closure Sunday after a slew of incidents involving unidentified drones in recent weeks. The closure will be in effect from Monday to Friday.
He said the drones have created disruption and uncertainty in the country, particularly among the military and police. He said the closure of airspace to civilian drone use will allow law enforcement to focus on security for EU meetings Thursday and Friday.
The European Council is meeting informally Thursday to address general defense in Europe as well as the body’s support for Ukraine amid its war with Russia. A more formal summit of the European political community is expected to take place Friday.
Last week, Denmark’s defense minister, Troels Lund Poulson, said the recent drone sightings in Danish airspace likely weren’t by Russia though there has been a rise in Russian violations of allied airspace. He instead described them as “hybrid attacks,” meaning they were the result of different types of drones. Authorities believed they were launched from somewhere local.
The drone incidents have caused Denmark to at times shut down airports and the airspace around its largest military base.
During his speech Wednesday before the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned the international community that Russia’s advanced weaponry and defense technology is putting the entirety of Europe under threat. He cited Moscow’s use of drones and artificial intelligence.
“We are living through the most destructive arms race in human history,” Zelensky said.
European leaders, including Poulson, met on the sidelines of the U.N. general debate last week to discuss the establishment of a “drone wall” to prevent drone attacks — from Russia or otherwise. The system to detect and disable drones would create a virtual wall along eastern EU countries, including Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
There have been other unidentified drone sightings in Lithuania, Poland and Romania.