Danish Troops to Learn Drone Warfare in Ukraine, Russia Unhappy

Denmark will send soldiers to Ukraine to be trained in drone warfare, the head of the Nordic country’s army said on Wednesday amid rising demand for an area of battlefield expertise that helped fend off the Russian invasion.

Russia’s ambassador to Copenhagen criticized the move, saying Danish soldiers were being sent to learn how to kill Russians.

The Danish troops will be unarmed and be stationed far from the frontlines, Major General Peter Harling Boysen told state broadcaster TV2. Training is expected to begin as early as this summer. 

“We really need to have the latest versions of different types of drones, so that when the time comes to go to war, we can take them with us,” Harling Boysen said.

Drones have emerged as one of Ukraine’s most effective weapons in countering the Russian onslaught.

According to Harling Boysen, they account for more than 70% of Russian fatalities in the ongoing conflict.

The success of FPV (first-person view) devices during the war has spurred a wave of investment in drone technology in Ukraine’s western neighbors – and beyond.

It has also made Ukraine’s battle-earned expertise in flying and manufacturing the devices, especially cheap FPV drones, highly coveted among its allies.

“On the one hand, we must be able to use drones against the enemy, but we also need to know how to defend ourselves against them,” Harling Boysen added.

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Denmark plans to use the deployment to train its own drone operators, with returning soldiers expected to pass on acquired knowledge to units at home. 

The country opened its own military drone training center in the southern city of Odense in late March.

Russia’s ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, criticized Copenhagen’s decision to send soldiers to Ukraine, saying in a post on Facebook: “The exchange of combat experience is not a humanitarian action.”

He added: “Attempts to portray it as a harmless event — that a group of Danish soldiers is being sent on a ‘course’ in Ukraine to learn how to kill Russians with drones — is a lie and a deliberate provocation.”

Denmark has been a strong supporter of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, contributing military aid and training alongside other NATO allies.