O USNS Mercy
“To take care of the many people who are sick and not receiving treatment there”, says Trump: “it is on the way!!!”.
The president of the United States (US) has announced that he will send a hospital ship to Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory he has long coveted.
“We will send a large hospital ship to Greenland to care for the many people who are sick and not receiving treatment there,” Trump wrote.
“It’s on the way!!!”, added the Republican, on Saturday, on the platform he owns, Truth Social, without specifying the number of patients or who could benefit from the hospital ship.
The message is accompanied by an image, apparently generated by artificial intelligence (AI), that shows the USNS Mercya 272 meter long ship, usually stationed in Southern California, sailing towards a horizon of snowy mountains. The President of the United States did not specify whether this is the ship that will actually be sent to Greenland.
Trump indicated that the operation to send the ship is being carried out in coordination with Jeff Landryappointed in December as U.S. special envoy for the Arctic island.
The Republican has accused Europeans of not adequately protecting Greenland against Russian and Chinese ambitions in the Arctic and defending the need to install US anti-missile defenses there. However, in the threats following the signing of a with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
The king of Denmark, Frederic Xvisited Greenland this week, where, despite Denmark’s difficulties, the monarchy has long enjoyed great popularity.
A few hours before Trump’s message, the Danish army announced the evacuation of a crew member from an American submarine near Nuukwho “needed urgent medical treatment”, to the hospital in the capital of Greenland.
New NATO operations
On Friday, the Atlantic Alliance brought together special forces units from Sweden and Denmark to workout exercises in Greenland, the first maneuvers since the launch of Operation Arctic Sentinel. The new NATO military exercises in Greenland will be under the coordination of Joint Command Norfolk (JFC Norfolk) and are part of the Atlantic Alliance’s plans for the military strengthening of the Arctic region.
At the same time, the maneuvers include national exercises such as Denmark’s Arctic Endurance and Norway’s Cold Response, in which tens of thousands of soldiers operate with the aim of improving the coordination of NATO forces.
As part of the deployment, a platoon of Swedish Air Force Rangers was sent to Greenland to train for two weeks alongside the Danish Armed Forces, with the aim of strengthening regional security and practicing the defense of the Allied northern flank.
Sweden also contributes combat aircraft deployed to NATO’s aerial surveillance mission in Iceland.
