söndag 18 januari 2026

Germans go home – Swedish officers stay

Agnès Ericson

Updated 20.44 | Published 18.14

           Danska fartyget HDMS Knud Rasmussen utanför Nuuk, Grönland.
 

         
The Danish ship HDMS Knud Rasmussen outside Nuuk, Greenland. Photo: Sean Gallup / Getty

But Swedish officers remain on the island – to sail.

– There is an ambition to participate in training activities in Greenland and in the Arctic during this year, says Henrik Nyström at the Danish Armed Forces.

Operation “arctic endurance” is the name of the Danish-led military exercise that is currently underway in 
Nuuk
, Greenland. Since Friday, Danish, French and German military planes have transported soldiers from a number of different European countries to
 Greenland.
 

– The operation is very extensive and goes beyond what the Danish Armed 
Forces
 have attempted so far,
a source told Danmarks Radio
 about the exercise.

Since Wednesday, a few Swedish staff officers have been on the island – not to participate in the exercise, but to prepare for possible Swedish exercises there.

– They are reviewing geography, accommodation and infrastructure, simply everything that is required for Swedish exercise activities to be conducted in Greenland and in the Arctic. It is information that is not in a binder, so to speak. You have to be on site to be able to collaborate with the colleagues who are there locally, says Henrik Nyström at the Swedish Armed Forces.

That sounds like a pretty big job. How long will they stay?Det låter ju som ett ganska stort jobb. Hur länge blir de kvar?
That sounds like a pretty big job. How long will they stay

– It is difficult to say. It is not something that can be solved overnight. They stay as long as necessary.

Henrik Nyström, pressekreterare. 
Henrik Nyström, press secretary. Photo: Swedish Armed Forces

“Want to participate in an exercise this year”

It could be a matter of days. If not weeks, says Nyström.

At present, it is unclear what type of Swedish exercise is planned and how many troops can be spared.

Is there any proposal on the table to send Swedish soldiers there? 


– It is too early to say. But that is what they are sorting out now. And depending on what information is obtained there, we will have to take that planning work further and see what is appropriate. But there is an ambition to participate in exercise activities in Greenland and in the Arctic this year, says Nyström.

German admiral: “Everything is finished”

At the same time as Swedish officers remain on the island, German 
Bild
 and Danish DR report that the German force sent to Greenland has withdrawn from the island.

On Saturday, the country announced that they would stay longer than planned, but 44 hours later, reporters saw German military personnel at Nuuk airport.
Photo: Sean Gallup / Getty
– Everything is finished. Either we will return to Greenland, or we will hold more meetings with our allies, Admiral Stefan Pauly tells Danish
 DR
 at the airport.

A spokesman for the German military confirms later in the day to the German news agency dpa that their fifteen soldiers will travel home.

– The reconnaissance was completed according to orders, the spokesman tells dpa. 

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