Denmark deploys “from today” more units of its Army in Greenlandinitially intended for military training, but which will “soon” be translated into a reinforced presence in the region, reported the Ministry of Defense of the Nordic country. It will have the support of European NATO allies, such as Sweden, Norway, Germany and France. The Defense announcement came a few hours before the meeting in Washington between the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland and with the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubiowith the vice president, JD Vanceas host. The meeting was announced as key to the future of the island coveted by Donald Trump.
The reinforcement includes planes, ships and also soldiersaccording to the Defense statement. Their mission will be to protect “essential facilities”, cooperate with Greenlandic police forces and prepare for the arrival of allied troops. They will act in cooperation with the I’LL TAKE and its objective is to respond to the “growing tensions” in the region. Sweden has already sent a group of officers to the island, according to its prime minister, Ulf Kristersson. Norway will have two soldiers on the ground to prepare Allied maneuvers. Y Germany will deploy “a reconnaissance group”reported a government spokesperson. It will be made up of 13 soldiers, who will leave tomorrow for Nuuk, the Greenlandic capital. France will also participate in the European mission, according to government sources.
These announcements are in line with the plans of Denmark’s European allies against Trump, who argues that it is “vital” for the US to gain control over the island. The White House accuses Denmark of neglecting the defense of this autonomous territory. Trump has ironically claimed that the Danish Army has only “a couple of soldiers on dog sleds” to protect an island of 2.1 million square kilometers. He thus alluded to the Sirius Patrol, with a crew of 14 soldiers who receive military training in extreme weather conditions in the northeast of the island. The Danish Army’s Arctic Command contingent in Greenland is made up of about 200 soldiers, approximately the same number of troops as the United States has at its Pituffik military space base.
The Danish Minister of Defense, Troels Lund Poulsen, recalled that his Government is committed to strengthening the Arctic Command. Last year it approved a sum of 6 billion euros for the acquisition of ships, satellites and drones destined for Greenland.
The plan of the European allies, led by the United Kingdom and Germany, contemplates creating a mission, called ‘Arctic Sentinel’, according to the model of the ‘Eastern Sentinel’ deployed on NATO’s eastern flank.
The German Foreign Minister, Johann Wadephuladdressed the issue earlier in the week with Rubio. The German defense minister, Boris Pistoriusspecified this Tuesday that they were considering supervision operations and military maneuvers.
The German minister advanced there that it is ‘urgent’ to activate these operations given the attitude of Trump, who wants to take over the island “by hook or by crook.” A US intervention would place NATO in an “unprecedented” situation, Pistorius warned.
Bad moment for the independence movement
“This is not the time to talk about independenceto risk our right to self-determination, while another country talks about taking over us,” said the autonomous president of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsenin statements to Greenlandic public television KNR. Nielsen, who is in Copenhagen, already made it clear on Tuesday that, given the choice, the Greenlanders will opt to continue belonging to the Kingdom of Denmark, instead of passing into the hands of the United States. With this statement he launched a message of unity against Trump’s annexationist purposes. He did so accompanied by the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, who has been forcefully rejecting Trump’s plans for years, whether to buy, annex or invade the island.
Nielsen, leader of the centrist Demokraatit party, won the 2025 Greenland legislative elections and became head of a broad spectrum coalition. Naleraq, a party close to the purposes of the White House, was left out of his alliance. Demokraatit represents the most moderate independence movement. Naleraq intended to call a fast-track independence referendum, protected by the right to self-determination which has been contemplated in the Greenlandic Statute since 2009.
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