France has said it would deploy a detachment to Greenland to take part in a joint "cold-weather exercise" with Denmark and several other European countries, while US President Donald Trump said he can't rely on Denmark to protect Greenland from Russia and China.
According to the French Armed Forces Ministry, the mission will involve mountain warfare units, with details on troop numbers and their exact mandate to be announced during President Emmanuel Macron's annual address to the armed forces on Thursday at the Istres air base in southern France, Le Monde reported.
Earlier, Denmark said it would beef up its military presence in Greenland "from today, deploying capabilities and units related to the exercise activities."
Sweden also announced it had sent officers to participate in a military exercise in the territory.
Separately, Germany said it would send soldiers to Greenland from Thursday to Saturday as part of a "reconnaissance mission" alongside other European partners to support Denmark.
Trump claims Denmark can't counter Russia, China
US President Donald Trump has insisted that Greenland should be "in the hands of the US" to counter threats from Russia and China.
"I can't rely on Denmark being able to fend themselves off. They were talking about it, they put an extra dog sled there. Last month, they entered a second dog sled that's not going to do the trick," Trump told reporters at the White House.
"We need Greenland for national security, so we're going to see what happens," Trump said. "If we don't go in, Russia is going to go in, and China's going to go in. And there's not a thing that Denmark can do about it, but we can do everything."
The comments followed a meeting between US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Greenland Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt at the White House.
"We didn't manage to change the American position. It's clear that the president (Donald Trump) has this wish of conquering over Greenland," Rasmussen said at a news conference after the meeting. "We made it very, very clear" that this is not in the interest of the kingdom (of Denmark).
Denmark and the US, however, agreed to form a high-level working group to find paths forward, he said.
