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DENMARK AND UKRAINE

‘Tak Danmark’: Ukraine posts video to thank Denmark for howitzers

Ukraine's Ministry of Defence has made a rousing video thanking Denmark for sending it artillery weapons, backed by the song written to mark Denmark's liberation from Nazi Germany.

Published: 13 February 2023 17:27 CET
'Tak Danmark': Ukraine posts video to thank Denmark for howitzers
A screenshot from the video posted by Ukraine's defence ministry. Photo: Screenshot

The text to the video notes that many nations have come to Ukraine’s aid “even at a cost to their own security needs”, adding that Denmark had given Ukraine every single one of its Caesar self-propelled howitzers. 

“Our friends in Copenhagen know that Ukraine’s struggle is Europe’s struggle,” it adds. 

The video shows the howitzers being loaded onto transport planes, and then shows Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, meeting and shaking hands with Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky. 

Playing in the background to the video is Danmarks Frihedssang, Denmark’s Song of Freedom, which was written and sung by Aksel Schiøtz in 1945 to mark Denmark’s liberation from Nazi Germany. 

Denmark has given Ukraine 19 Caesar howitzers, which are produced by the French government-owned arms company Nexter Systems, and also recently said it planned to give decommissioned Leopard 1A5 tanks to Kyiv.

Caesar stands for CAmion Équipé d’un Système d’ARtillerie, or “truck equipped with an artillery system”.

READ ALSO: Denmark ‘considering’ new military donations to Ukraine

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MILITARY

US troops to mount exercise on Danish Baltic island

US troops are planning to take part in a military exercise on the island of Bornholm next month, marking the third time in three years US soldiers have trained on Danish soil.

Published: 27 April 2024 10:38 CEST
US troops to mount exercise on Danish Baltic island

Denmark’s defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, revealed the planned exercise, which will take plance between May 1st and May 7th in a briefing to the Danish parliament’s defence committee.

As part of the exercise, US troops will ship an unnamed weapons system to Bornholm Airport, and then set it up in a military exercise area, but would not then fire any shots or missiles. 

“The exercise has a military training aspect, but also sends a signal about the solidarity of the alliance, about American commitment to security in Europe and in our own immediate area,” Lund Poulsen said in the briefing.

US troops took part in similar exercises in 2022 and 2023 on the strategically placed island, which lies 360km away from the Russian and controls access to the western Baltic. 

The US had requested permission to train on Bornholm, which the Danish government then accepted. There is no change in Danish armed forces’ assessment of the threat against Bornholm or Denmark, Lund Poulsen stressed. 

In December, Denmark entered into an agreement with the US, which permits US soldiers and equipment to be kept permanently on Danish soil, with hte US granted access to the Karup, Skrydstrup and Aalborg air bases.

When US troops held a similar exercise on the island in 2022, with a large missile system deployed to the island, the Russian ambassador to Denmark sent an official warning. 

“This can be seen as taking a step towards changing Bornholm from an island of peace to a potential military bridgehead,” Russia’s ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, told the Danish broadcaster TV2.

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