Drone incident over Copenhagen. Suspicions point to vessels operating in the Baltic
On Monday evening, Copenhagen Airport (Kastrup) was forced to shut down for four hours after several large drones were spotted over the facility. The incident, described by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen as “the most serious attack so far on Denmark’s critical infrastructure,” is now under investigation with potential links to commercial shipping traffic in the Baltic Sea.
In brief
Denmark's Kastrup airport was paralysed for four hours on Monday evening after several large drones appeared over the airport. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described the incident as the most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date, and investigators are examining the hypothesis that the drones were launched from vessels in the area of the Øresund strait. Broadcaster TV2 points to the Russian freighter Astrol-1 sailing from Arkhangelsk to St Petersburg, the daily Ekstra Bladet to the sanctioned Benin-flagged tanker Pushpa, and a third lead points to the Norwegian freighter Oslo Carrier 3, whose owner denied that any drones were on board.
According to Danish media, one key line of inquiry is that the drones may have been launched from vessels operating in the vicinity of the Øresund Strait and Zealand’s eastern approaches.
TV2 has highlighted the Russian freighter Astrol-1, which passed through the Øresund en route from Arkhangelsk to St. Petersburg only hours before the drone activity. Meanwhile, the newspaper Ekstra Bladet has drawn attention to the tanker Pushpa, flagged to Benin and sanctioned for transporting Russian oil. At the time of the incident, the vessel was operating southeast of Zealand under escort by a German coast guard ship.
A third vessel under scrutiny is the Norwegian cargo carrier Oslo Carrier 3, positioned only a few kilometers north of Kastrup when the airport was closed. The shipowner confirmed to TV2 that the crew includes Russian seafarers, but denied that any drones were carried on board.
Drone expert Dr. Kjeld Jensen of the University of Southern Denmark noted that technically, unmanned systems could be deployed from a freighter and subsequently scuttled at sea to erase evidence. Danish police confirmed that this remains one of the working hypotheses, stressing that the operator behind the attack demonstrated considerable competence.
The incident, unfolding in the immediate vicinity of vital Baltic shipping lanes, raises growing concerns over maritime security and the resilience of regional transport infrastructure.
Source: Gazeta Morska / PAP · Compiled by: Kamil Kusier
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