A Russian frigate fired two flares towards a Danish military helicopter in international waters off Denmark on Monday, narrowly missing the aircraft, in an incident Danish leaders have condemned as reckless and unacceptable. The helicopter was on a routine mission photographing the frigate when the flare passed within metres of it, with no prior warning or radio contact from the Russian vessel. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described the act as part of an escalating pattern of Russian hybrid warfare designed to intimidate and divide Europe, while insisting Denmark would not waver.

Denmark's Defence Minister Jeppe Bruus and Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen both condemned the incident, with Rasmussen summoning Russia's ambassador and warning that Moscow was "gradually moving the line" on acceptable behaviour in the strategically vital Danish straits, a key route for commercial shipping and Russia's sanctioned "shadow fleet" oil tankers. Denmark's intelligence service previously reported repeated close encounters involving Russian warships targeting Danish vessels with tracking radars and weapons. The episode came hours before Nato fighter jets shot down a drone that entered Lithuania from Belarus near Kaunas, the first such shootdown on Lithuanian territory, with President Gitanas Nausėda citing Russia's intensifying aggression as justification for heightened Nato readiness.