Danish PM calls Copenhagen airport drone incident 'most serious infrastructure attack'

The drone incident at Copenhagen Airport was the most serious attack on the country's critical infrastructure in its history, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said.

In a comment to TV2, she said the incident, which led to the disruption of Copenhagen Airport, was "the most serious attack on Denmark's critical infrastructure to date." "I consider this a serious attack on Denmark's critical infrastructure... There should be no doubt that the use of drones at the airport can have very serious consequences," the prime minister said.

Asked whether she suspected Russia of being behind the incident, Frederiksen said: "In any case, I cannot deny in any way that it was Russia."

She noted previous drone activity in Poland and Romania, violations of Estonian airspace and hacker attacks on European airports, adding that the motive in this case was to destabilize the situation, incite unrest and cause concern.

Swedish Defense Minister Paul Jönsson said that no country had the right to violate the airspace of other states, so they had the right to defend themselves if necessary, the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet reported.

"The government has given the Armed Forces instructions on how to deal with intruding aircraft. This includes the right to use weapons if necessary - with or without warning," the minister said, adding that Sweden "will defend its airspace."

Copenhagen Airport was closed for several hours on Tuesday night after drones were spotted within the airport.

Danish police said it was currently unknown who launched the drones over the airport's secure area.