Late on September 22, 2025, two of the busiest airports in Scandinavia, Copenhagen and Oslo, were forced to shut down for several hours after large drones were spotted in restricted airspace. Flights were diverted, passengers stranded, and authorities are now scrambling to find out exactly who launched them.
Drones Over Copenhagen & Oslo Airports: A Capable Operator, But Who Is Pulling The Strings?
Danish police say the drones over Copenhagen were flown by “a capable operator,” someone with “the capabilities, the will and the tools to show off in this way.” Chief Superintendent Jens Jespersen described how two or three large drones came from multiple directions, blinking their lights on and off before vanishing. Copenhagen Airport was closed for about four hours, with 31 flights diverted and around 100 flights delayed or cancelled, impacting roughly 20,000 travelers. Oslo Airport shut down for three hours after similar drone sightings.
| Airport | Flights Diverted | Flights Cancelled |
|---|---|---|
| Copenhagen (CPH) | 51 | 109 |
| Oslo (OSL) | 11 | 19 |
Official Reactions And Finger Pointing
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark called the drone incursions “the most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date.” She added, “I cannot rule out that it is Russia,” pointing to previous incidents in Poland, Romania, and Estonia as part of a broader pattern. The Kremlin, via spokesman Dmitry Peskov, responded that suggestions of Russian involvement are “unfounded accusations.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also weighed in, publicly attributing responsibility to Russia for the Copenhagen incident and saying it was part of Russia’s violations of NATO airspace. However, no publicly disclosed evidence has tied Moscow directly to the drone flights over Denmark, and Danish police have not confirmed his claims. Jespersen stressed that while the operator was skilled, it is still too early to say who was behind the incidents or whether the Copenhagen and Oslo events were linked.
CONCLUSION
The drone shutdowns in Copenhagen and Oslo are not random misfires. Europe is being tested, and civilian airspace has become a new pressure point. Russia strikes me as the most likely culprit after its recent incursions into Estonia and Poland, but for now, this matter is developing.
Even so, Russia has a long history of “testing the waters” of its neighbors, and if Russia is behind these drones, it represents a dangerous escalation from a pathetic former superpower desperate for relevance in a world that has long moved past it.
I realize there is some danger in shooting down a drone in civilian airspace, but I would think Danish or Norwegian authorities might have shot one down just to try and ascertain the source? If these appear again, I hope they are shot down.
image: Norwegian government
Drones ought to be shot down .
It depends upon what’s below them.
I suspect that the Russians would make sure that the drones couldn’t be traced back to them.
Hmm. Military has jammers for drones. Makes for a safe capture I thought.
Russia is firing into the transpacific airspace? I guess we will be talking about this.
Jammers don’t work to disrupt all the drones in use by military and intelligence services around.
I read an article today that clearly detailed the range of many of the Russian Drones which can easily reach any European capital with the exception of Lisbon. Further, it highlighted that drone defense in the EU is abysmal. Barely existent. If it is Russia, and it’s hard to fathom otherwise, this was a test and a warning. A test to see how deep they can enter into the EU without detection and the warning if it succeeded (which it did) that Russia will not hesitate to use them if NATO enters the conflict in Ukraine. For NATO this should be a wake up call that the future of warfare are drones and to start initiating better defenses and manufacturing to counter threats like this.
100% agree.
Some of these strange drones have been reported to have been flying around southern Sweden too, but not sure yet if those reports have been confirmed as related to what disrupted OSL and CPH airports.
There is some suspicion that the drones are controlled from ships in the water.