Regarding his country’s support for Ukraine, Troels Lund Poulsen, Danish Minister of Defense, sees only a red line: “We do not plan and do not consider sending soldiers into the field as an option”he says in an interview with World. For the rest, Denmark does not skimp on its aid, as it has already demonstrated in the spring of 2023, by selling all of its nineteen Caesar cannons, recently acquired from the French company Nexter – which recently led the Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, to to claim that his country had given ” all [son] artillery » in kyiv. Announced this summer, the delivery of the first F16 combat aircraft to Ukraine, out of the nineteen promised, should take place ” before summer “according to the minister.
In January, the Nordic country of 5.9 million inhabitants was among the largest donors in Europe (on 4e in terms of financial volumes and the 2e in proportion to its gross domestic product, behind Estonia, according to the Kiel Institute in Germany). In total, Copenhagen has already announced military support worth 4.5 billion euros. Furthermore, Denmark has set up an aid fund for Ukraine, with 8.1 billion euros, which should allow it to continue financing its support until at least 2028.
“The most important thing we can do right now is show the Ukrainians that we will be with them for the long term”, assures Mr. Lund Poulsen. The ten-year bilateral security agreement, signed on February 23 in Lviv, by President Volodymyr Zelensky and Mr.me Frederiksen, who was making his fourth visit to Ukraine since the start of the war, is “a clear signal” in this sense, comments the minister.
“Be ready to do more”
The day before, in Copenhagen, the government had unveiled a fifteenth military aid package to kyiv. Worth 228 million euros, it notably includes the sending of 15,000 artillery shells, “ delivered within a few months »in cooperation with the Czech Republic, as well as equipment and ammunition for air defense, mine clearance and drones.
On its website, the Ministry of Defense details the donations made over the last two years. In addition to the F16s and Caesar cannons, Copenhagen delivered 407 Stinger surface-to-air missile launchers, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, more than a hundred Leopard tanks (in cooperation with the Netherlands and Germany), but also armored vehicles, munitions and drones. “We listen to our friends in Ukraine and try to provide them with what they need”specifies the minister, who is delighted to see countries, like France, “be ready to do more”.
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