Just two days after the presumed Russian drone incursions of Danish and Norwegian airspace that briefly closed both the Copenhagen and Oslo airports, it looks like the Russians are back with even more provocative actions in the Baltic today — from GPS jamming of the Spanish Defense Minister’s flight to Lithuania to buzzing a German naval ship, and now a coordinated drone recon of at least four Danish airbases.
But despite Trump apparently giving his go ahead to start shooting down these intrusions that violate NATO airspace, the Danes still haven’t made much of an effort yet — despite Finland possibly identifying a Russian-flagged ship that may or may not be the source of these current drone operations, currently located to the northwest of Estonia.
This is all based on the Enforcer YouTube channel that often is the first to break these developing news stories, though they have a pretty good reputation reporting on the war in Ukraine/Russia.
Interesting aside on the coming economic/banking crisis about to hit Russia. Rumor suggests Putin has apparently decreed that Russian banks must extend credit card limits to borrowers to stave off an immediate liquidity crisis, but that obviously isn’t much of a long-term solution, and will likely lead to an even larger wholesale collapse of the entire banking system in the not-too-distant future [note — this remains unconfirmed more than 40 hours later, so don’t take it as gospel just yet].
Danish coverage starts about 20 minutes in…
Looks like NBC News/Reuters is covering the drone story now:
Denmark’s Aalborg Airport, used for commercial and military flights, was closed due to drones in its airspace, police said early on Thursday, two days after the country’s main Copenhagen airport was shut over drone sightings that raised European security concerns.
Danish national police said the drones followed a similar pattern to the ones that had halted flights at Copenhagen Airport for four hours a few days earlier.
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Northern Jutland police told reporters that “more than one drone” had been sighted near Aalborg airport and they were flying with lights on.
The drones were first sighted at about 9:44 p.m. (2:44 p.m ET) on Wednesday, according to police, and remained in the airspace at the time of the press briefing at 12:05 a.m. on Thursday.
Eurocontrol, which oversees European air traffic control, said arrivals and departures at Aalborg airport would be at a “zero rate” until 9 p.m. ET Thursday due to drone activity in the vicinity.
…
Southern Jutland police later said in a post on X that drones had also been observed near the airports in the Danish towns of Esberg, Sonderborg and Skrydstrup.
Fighter Wing Skrydstrup in Southern Jutland is the base for Denmark’s F-16 and F-35 fighter jets.
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UPDATE: OK, this definitely wasn’t on my Baltic Bingo Card. From United24 Media today:
Two Hungarian Gripen fighter jets were scrambled on September 25 from Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania as part of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission, NATO Air Command reported on September 25.
The jets intercepted a formation of Russian aircraft—including a Su-30, a Su-35, and three MiG-31s—flying near Latvian airspace.
NATO Air Command stressed that the swift response by the Hungarian pilots underscores the Alliance’s steadfast commitment to defending the Baltic region and safeguarding its eastern flank.
Does Orban know what his military has been doing while he’s been busy trying to parrot Putin’s anti-NATO propaganda?
European diplomats have warned the Kremlin that NATO is prepared to respond with full force—including shooting down Russian aircraft—if airspace violations continue, Bloomberg reported on September 25, citing officials familiar with the matter.
According to the report, British, French, and German envoys raised the issue during a tense meeting in Moscow this week, voicing concerns over a recent incursion by three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets into Estonian airspace. The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the closed nature of the talks, concluded that the violation had been a deliberate tactic ordered by Russian commanders.
And speaking of the NATO threat to shoot down Russian aircraft intruding into NATO airspace, there is this over-the-top response from the Kremlin, as reported by the Daily Mail:
Shooting down Russian planes will lead to war, a Kremlin envoy has said in a chilling warning to NATO.
The threat comes amid rising tensions between Moscow and its European neighbours with Russia accused of violating their airspace after a number of drone incursions.
Poland is looking to pass a law that will allow its military to down Russian drones over Ukraine without needing approval from NATO or the European Union after multiple crossed into their territory earlier this month.
...
US President Donald Trump warned that NATO countries could shoot down Russian aircrafts which infringe on their airspace during a speech at the United Nations on Tuesday.
But Alexey Meshkov, Russia's ambassador to France, has fired back, stating that gunning down their aircrafts 'would be war'.
Meanwhile, WTF is going on in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone? From the AP:
U.S. fighter jets scrambled to identify and intercept four Russian warplanes flying near Alaska, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said Thursday.
It's the third time in about a month and the ninth time this year NORAD has reported such an incident involving Russian aircraft flying near Alaska. This latest incident happened Wednesday.
NORAD said in a statement issued early Thursday that it detected and tracked two Tu-95s and two Su-35s operating in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone.
Nine U.S. aircraft — an E-3 Sentry command and control aircraft, four F-16s and four KC-135 tankers — scrambled to positively identify and intercept the Russian jets, NORAD said.
The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace, it said. Such Russian activity near Alaska occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat, it added in its statement.
While it’s certainly true the Russians regularly send up individual spy planes to check on our air defense measures, two nuclear bombers accompanied by two of their top-line fighters is a whole other matter — necessitating the scrambling of not just a fighter or two on our part, but a total of nine aircraft in total. This is some serious shit signaling by both sides now going on!
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2nd UPDATE: And now it’s getting exponentially worse — Poland tonight has just given the order to any of its citizens still in Belarus to leave that country immediately! From the Kyiv Independent:
Poland's Embassy in Minsk called on Polish citizens to "immediately leave" Belarus on Sept. 25, amid rising tensions stemming from Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"In the event of a drastic deterioration in the security situation, border closures, or other unforeseen circumstances, evacuation may prove significantly more difficult or even impossible," the embassy said in a statement.
…
Polish officials have also escalated rhetoric towards Russia in recent weeks following a Russian drone incursion onto Polish territory on Sept. 10.
Amid U.S. President Donald Trump's apparent rhetoric shift towards Moscow, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski signalled his support for shooting down Russian jets, writing "Roger that" on social media in response to Trump's comment that NATO allies should shoot down the aircraft.
Despite Polish calls to leave the country, Warsaw lifted on Sept. 24 its border closure with Belarus imposed during Zapad-2025 drills.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk emphasized that the option to close the crossings again remains on the table. "If the tension or aggressive behavior of our neighbors increases, we will not hesitate and we will again decide to close the crossings," he said.
I suspect Poland lifted the border closure with Belarus specifically to facilitate the evacuation of their nationals from there.
It also looks like Denmark may have finally found the source of the drones overflying their territory in recent days. From Newsweek:
Danish authorities have reported the sighting of a Russian warship on the edge of Danish waters with its tracking system turned off, indicating it is likely trying to avoid detection, according to Danish outlet Ekstra Bladet.
...
A helicopter spotted the Russian vessel, identified as the landing vessel Aleksandr Shabalin, off the coast of Langeland, Denmark.
I have to say, if the Danes have just discovered a Russian warship lurking near its territory in the Baltic, that does not speak well of either their (and NATO’s) situational awareness or operational security.
