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The Danish defense ministry said Saturday that "drones have been observed at several of Danish defense facilities" overnight Friday into Saturday. The come after there were several drone sightings in the Nordic country earlier this week, with some of them temporarily shutting down Danish airports.

The Danish defense ministry said in a statement that drone activity was noticed at Skrydstrup Air Base and the Jutland Dragoon Regiment.

Several local media reported that one or more drones were also seen near or above the military Karup Air Base, which is Denmark's biggest military base.

The Defense ministry refused to confirm the sighting at Karup and said later that "for reasons of operational security and the ongoing investigation, the Defense Command Denmark does not wish to elaborate further on drone sightings."

Danish public broadcaster DR reported that in Karup, there were drones in the air both inside and outside the fence of the air base at around 8 p.m. local time, quoting Simon Skelkjær, the duty manager at the Central and West Jutland Police.

DR said that for a period of time the airspace was closed to civil air traffic, but that did not have much practical significance as there is currently no civil aviation in Karup.

The repeated unexplained drone activity, including over four Danish airports overnight Wednesday into Thursday and a similar incident at Copenhagen Airport has raised concerns about security in northern Europe.

Flights resumed early Tuesday at Copenhagen airport after because of drone sightings. Police reported two to three large, unidentified drones were seen Monday night, forcing outgoing flights at Scandinavia's largest airport to be grounded and others diverted to airports nearby.

Jens Jespersen of the Copenhagen Police said the those responsible seemed to be showing off their skills, adding that the number, large size and flight patterns of the unidentified drones combined indicated "that it is a capable actor. Which capable actor, I do not know." 

Police in neighboring Norway said they had seized a drone near Oslo's airport, the AFP news agency reported. A public prosecutor in Norway said Thursday that there was nothing to immediately suggest any link between the Oslo incident and the drones seen in Denmark, according to AFP.

Neither Danish nor Norwegian officials have accused anyone of responsibility. But the incidents come with many European nations on alert following Russian drone and fighter jet incursions into Poland, Romania and Estonia.

The goal of the flyovers is to sow fear and division, Danish Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgaard said Thursday, adding that the country will seek additional ways to neutralize drones, including proposing legislation to allow infrastructure owners to shoot them down.

For the upcoming European Union summit next week, the Danish defense ministry confirmed on X that the country's government had accepted an offer from Sweden to "lend Denmark a military anti-drone capability," without giving further details.

In neighboring Germany, several drones were reported in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, which borders Denmark, from Thursday into Friday night.

The state's interior minister, Sabine Sütterlin-Waack, said that "the state police are currently significantly stepping up their drone defense measures, also in coordination with other northern German states," German news agency dpa reported. She did not provide any further details, citing the ongoing investigations.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that in regard to frequent attacks on infrastructure and data networks, "we are not at war, but we are no longer living in peace either." He did not allude to a certain country as the actor behind those attacks.

"Drone flights, espionage, the Tiergarten murder, massive threats to individual public figures, not only in Germany but also in many other European countries. Acts of sabotage on a daily basis. Attempts to paralyze data centers. Cyberattacks," he added during a speech at the Schwarz Ecosystem Summit in Berlin on Friday, dpa reported.

What became known as the "Tiergarten murder" in Germany refers to the case of Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted of the Aug. 23, 2019, killing of Zelimkhan "Tornike" Khangoshvili, a 40-year-old Georgian citizen who had fought Russian troops in Chechnya and later claimed asylum in Germany. between the U.S. and Russia in 2024.

One of the six runways at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport was closed for about 45 minutes early Saturday afternoon after reports of a drone sighting around noon local time, military police spokesman Doron Wallin told The Associated Press. Aircraft were redirected to another runway.

Wallin said no drone or drone pilot was found and the runway was reopened. He said that such reported sightings are a regular occurence, with 22 so far this year.

Later on Saturday, Adm. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the chair of NATO's Military Committee, said at a NATO meeting in Riga, Latvia, that "Russian aircraft and drones, on top of the already existing measures will now find the resolute response of the newly established and already operational Eastern Sentry activity, which further strengthen NATO's ability to react quickly and decisively against this kind of reckless behavior."

"Russia bears full responsibility for these actions," Dragone said. "Today, I express full and unequivocal solidarity with all allies whose airspace has been breached. The alliance's response has been robust and will only continue to strengthen," he said.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs said that "the immediate priority today is clearly air defense."

"Russia continues a pattern of provocations, most recently recklessly violating the airspace of Poland and Estonia," Rinkēvičs said.