Danish authorities reportedly prepared to disable key Greenland airstrips to stop a potential US seizure of the Arctic territory, the Danish broadcaster DR has reported.
DR says its account is based on a dozen sources inside Denmark's government and military, plus officials in France and Germany, and the Financial Times later said two European diplomats corroborated parts of the story.
According to the report, troops sent to the Greenland towns of Nuuk and Kangerlussuaq carried supplies — including blood for treating casualties — and elite units trained for cold-weather operations were moved north.
The deployments were publicly framed as part of a Danish-led exercise called Operation Arctic Endurance, but sources told DR the real aim was to prepare for the worst: a hostile attempt by another country to seize the island.
Copenhagen reportedly decided its forces would resist and, if necessary, render the airfields unusable to prevent aircraft from landing.
Officials said the intention was to raise the cost of any hostile action, even while acknowledging Danish forces would struggle to repel a major military power.
The preparations were taken against a backdrop of tensions after then-US President Donald Trump repeatedly expressed interest in acquiring Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Both Denmark and Greenland rejected his overtures.
DR says concerns intensified after an alleged US operation in Venezuela in early January, which heightened Danish worries that Washington might act unilaterally.
France, Germany and Nordic partners were reportedly consulted and asked to show political and military backing.
French President Emmanuel Macron had said an initial French contingent would be reinforced, and DR reports that both French naval assets and Danish aircraft were sent toward the North Atlantic.
Denmark's defence ministry declined to comment on the report, and a senior military figure told the BBC that only a small circle of people were informed of the operation for security reasons.
On 21 January, speaking in Davos, Trump said he would not use force and indicated he was seeking negotiations over Greenland.
