Denmark says 'professional actor' behind drone incursions over its airports

Aalborg airport was forced to shut down for several hours on Wednesday evening after green lights were spotted overhead, while Billund airport also briefly closed. Three smaller airports also reported drone activity.

On Monday, Copenhagen airport temporarily closed due to a drone incursion.

Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told a news conference that the "hybrid attack" was part of a "systematic operation", but said the devices had been launched locally.

A hybrid attack uses a mix of military and non-military tactics and is designed to interfere with a nation's infrastructure or institutions.

Drones pose a risk of colliding with planes, particularly during take-off or landing, but halting air traffic in and out of an airport to avoid this can cause delays and flights being redirected elsewhere.

At least three flights were diverted away from Aalborg during the incident.

All the airports affected by the overnight incident sit on Jutland, the part of Denmark that is on the European mainland.

Drones were first sighted over the northerly Aalborg airport around 21:44 local time (19:44 GMT), state media reports. A few minutes later, police received reports of drone activity near small, southerly airports in Esbjerg, Sønderborg and Skrydstrup.

Possible drone activity over Billund prompted the closure of its airport for about an hour early on Thursday morning.

The drones were assessed to have cleared shortly before 03:00 and the airspace was reopened. Danish police are now seeking to find out who launched them.

Poulsen said there was no evidence to suggest Russia was behind the incursion. The Russian embassy in Copenhagen has denied "absurd speculations" of its involvement.

It described the incidents as "staged provocations", saying they would be used "as a pretext for further escalating tension" over the war in Ukraine.

Russia has been accused of conducting hybrid attacks in the past, and Europe has been on high alert after several Nato member states reported Russian incursions in their airspaces.

Estonia and Poland requested a consultation with other Nato members last week, after around 20 Russian drones crossed into Poland and Russian MiG31 jets entered Estonian airspace in a separate incident. Romania, another Nato member, also said a Russian drone had breached its airspace.

Russia denied violating Estonia's airspace, while it insisted the Polish incursion was not deliberate. It did not comment on the incident in Romania.