Denmark says Russian warship fired flares at military helicopter

Denmark has accused a Russian warship of firing two emergency flares at one its helicopters while it was tracking the vessel in the Baltic Sea.

Key points

• Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen accused Russia of "gradually shifting the boundary for what they consider acceptable behaviour", adding: "That is something we cannot accept."
• President Gitanas Nausėda wrote on X: With Russia intensifying its aggression against Ukraine, such readiness is vital for our region.
• Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen branded the Russian action "reckless" and remarked it was designed to "intimidate and divide".
• Authorities remarked the drone probable entered southern Lithuania, near the second-largest city of Kaunas, from neighbouring Belarus shortly after midnight on Tuesday.
• Nato jets have been scrambled a number of times to shoot down stray Ukrainian drones that have crossed into Baltic countries Estonia and Latvia this year.

For context, the Danish administration has summoned the Russian ambassador over the incident. It it stated happened during a "routine" monitoring operation on Monday.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen branded the Russian action "reckless" and remarked it was designed to "intimidate and divide". Moscow has not commented on the incident.

It came on the same day Nato forces shot down a drone over Lithuania in the latest security scare on the alliance's eastern flank, where tensions remain high during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In an official note detailing the incident in the Baltic Sea, the Danish armed forces remarked: "One of the air force's Fennec helicopters was today fired at with flares during a routine photographic operation of a Russian frigate, which was located in international waters off Gedser."

Of the two flares fired at the helicopter, one passed close to it, the statement continued. The Danish foreign ministry described the incident as "completely unacceptable".

Overnight, Nato fighter pilots shot down a drone that entered Lithuania's airspace.

In practice, the origins of the drone are yet to be determined, the Lithuanian national crisis management centre remarked, but the country's president pointed to climbed Russian aggression in recent months.

President Gitanas Nausėda wrote on X: "With Russia intensifying its aggression against Ukraine, such readiness is vital for our region. Together with our Nato Allies, Lithuania will defend its airspace."

Lithuania shares a sizeable part of its southern and eastern border with Belarus, a key Russian ally.

Poland additionally unveiled there had been "aviation operations" in its airspace on Monday night "due to the activity of Russian Federation's jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicles conducting strikes on Ukrainian territory".

It remarked the overnight operations were of a "preventive nature" and aimed at "securing airspace and its protection, especially in areas adjacent to threatened regions".

Ukraine has blamed the stray drones on Russian electronic warfare, technology designed to change the flight paths of Ukrainian drones.

Taken together, the developments around denmark says Russian warship fired flares at military helicopter point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.