The drone sightings near Danish and Norwegian airports come amid heightened concerns over Russian violating EU airspace.
Published On 22 Sep 2025
Copenhagen airport has reopened after briefly closing due to sightings of “unidentified drones”, even as another drone sighting has prompted Norway’s Oslo airport to shut its airspace.
Earlier on Monday, Copenhagen airport said it closed its airspace “due to two to three unidentified drones”.
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Airport spokeswoman Lise Agerley Kurstein said about 15 flights had been diverted to other airports.
Oslo Airport also shut its airspace from midnight local time (2200 GMT) due to a drone observation, a spokesperson for the Norwegian airport operator Avinor said in a statement, adding that all flights were diverted to the nearest airport.
Copenhagen police, meanwhile, said that “three or four big drones” had been observed flying over the airport.
“They are still flying back and forth, coming and going,” duty officer Anette Ostenfeldt told the AFP at 10:45pm (20:45 GMT), adding that police were at the airport investigating.
She could not say if the drones were military or civilian.
“But they are bigger than what you as a private individual can buy,” Ostenfeldt said.
The incidents come as several European countries have reported violations of their airspace by Russia in recent days.
Estonia said on Friday that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets had entered Estonian airspace without permission.
During a Russian air strike on Ukraine the week before, Poland said about 19 drones flew into its airspace. The Polish Air Force and NATO allies shot down some of the unmanned vehicles, marking the first time Russian drones were downed over NATO territory since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Romania also registered a Russian drone in its airspace.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) convened on Monday to address the issue of airspace violations.
Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, denied the allegations that Moscow’s fighter jets had violated the airspace of neighbouring Estonia, saying that last Friday’s flight of three of its MiG-31 aircraft was done “strictly in accordance with international airspace regulations”.
The Russian Ministry of Defence echoed his remarks, saying that “objective monitoring” confirmed that the MiGs did not breach Estonian borders.
NATO allies at the UNSC meeting, however, condemned Russia for allegedly violating the alliance’s airspace.
“Your reckless actions risk direct armed confrontation between NATO and Russia. Our alliance is defensive, but be under no illusion we stand ready to defend NATO’s skies and NATO’s territory,” the United Kingdom foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, said.
NATO’s North Atlantic Council will meet to discuss the issue on Tuesday.