OPEN LETTER: Denmark, thank you — 672 million dollars and a lesson in dignity for Europe

The 30th Danish package: what 672 million really means

Mr. Prime Minister of Denmark, ladies and gentlemen of the Copenhagen government — allow a Quebec columnist to write the letter that too many European capitals should have drafted long before now. On June 30, 2026, the Danish government approved its 30th military aid package to Ukraine, worth 590 million euros — approximately 672 million US dollars or 4.4 billion Danish kroner. This is the largest Danish package announced in 2026. It is also, for those who know how to read the signals, one of the most courageous political gestures of the year in Europe.

Your country has 5.9 million inhabitants. It does not rank among the continent's military giants. It does not carry the geopolitical weight of France, the industrial mass of Germany, or the nuclear posture of the United Kingdom. And yet it is at its 30th military aid package to Ukraine, with an envelope that exceeds what certain much larger countries have provided over two years. There is a lesson here that Europe should reflect on.

Thirty packages. That number says everything. Not a one-off gesture driven by international press pressure. Not a symbolic act timed to a summit. A continuous, systematic commitment renewed thirty times. Denmark decided that Ukrainian freedom was worth a sustained, long-haul mobilization. That is what genuine solidarity looks like.

Munitions that matter at the front

The June 30, 2026 package includes notably additional funding for long-range artillery munitions. The original documentation mentions approximately 15,000 long-range rounds, part of which was already in the process of delivery. These rounds are not abstract. On the front, every long-range artillery shell represents the ability to strike Russian positions beyond direct range, disrupt troop concentrations, and reach deep logistics depots.

Artillery warfare remains, in 2026, one of the determining factors on the Ukrainian front. The ammunition balance has been one of Ukraine's most glaring deficits since 2022. Every delivery of long-range munitions — whether from Denmark, Czechia, Poland or others — narrows that deficit. Denmark, with this 30th package, contributes to maintaining the artillery parity that conditions the holding of Ukrainian lines.

Additional undisclosed weapons

The package also includes additional weapons whose nature was not detailed publicly by the Danish government. Ukrayinska Pravda reported on June 30 that the government had briefed the Foreign Affairs Committee on the package details, but not all of them were made public. This is not unusual — operational security sometimes requires not disclosing the exact contents of deliveries before they are in transit.

What is known: 590 million euros of military aid. What can be inferred: weapons systems, equipment, vehicles, varied munitions. Denmark has a tradition of qualitative military aid — not junk, not outdated surplus, but real, operational equipment that makes a difference on the ground. The Danish F-16s already delivered to Ukraine are the most spectacular proof of that.

I note that the Danish government does not boast. It delivers, funds, and announces soberly. No grand speeches about European values without the deeds to back them up. This operational discretion is a form of seriousness I wish I saw more of in other capitals that prefer declarations to deliveries.

An innovation that goes beyond simple aid

The most innovative part of this 30th package is not in the munitions or weapons. It lies in what the Danes call the "Danish model": 1.3 billion Danish kroner — approximately 198.6 million US dollars — allocated directly to funding the procurement costs of the Ukrainian state from its own defense industry. In plain terms: Denmark pays for Ukraine to buy weapons made in Ukraine.

This model is revolutionary in its logic. It is no longer about sending weapons from the West to Ukraine. It is about funding Ukraine's capacity to produce its own weapons on its own territory, with its own workers and the expertise it has accumulated over four years of war. This is industrial sovereignty-building financed by an external ally. It is exactly the direction in which aid to Ukraine should be evolving.

Why this model is superior to classic deliveries

The Danish model offers several advantages over direct equipment deliveries. First, it keeps the funds within the Ukrainian economy, stimulating employment and industrial capacity in wartime. Second, it produces weapons adapted to the specific needs of Ukrainian forces, who know the terrain better than any external supplier. Third, it builds a defense industrial base that will serve Ukraine long after the conflict ends — if that day ever comes.

Reuters confirmed this funding mechanism on June 30 in its reporting on the Danish package. The Danish model approach has been cited by other Ukraine partners as an inspiration for their own aid. This may be Denmark's most lasting contribution to Ukraine's defense: not just weapons, but a support model that others can replicate.

The Danish model is what intelligent solidarity looks like when you think it through carefully. Not condescending charity. Not aid tied to contracts for the Danish defense industry. Funding Ukraine's capacity to defend itself. That is treating Ukraine as an equal, not as a client or a ward.

From the first package to June 2026: Danish consistency

Being at the 30th military aid package means Denmark has maintained a remarkable pace of engagement since the start of the large-scale conflict in February 2022. Each package represented a renewed political choice, in the face of economic pressures, internal debates, and voices calling for accommodation with Russia. Denmark said no to those voices, thirty times.

This consistency stands in sharp contrast to the hesitations of certain allies. Hungary under Viktor Orbán regularly blocks European aid mechanisms. Italy is slowing its commitments for 2027. Several NATO countries contribute below their actual capacity. Against this uneven landscape, Danish consistency looks like a fixed line in a world that wobbles. It deserves to be named and saluted.

The Nordic example: a solidarity doctrine

Denmark is not alone in this posture. Its Nordic neighbors — Sweden, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands — have all maintained high and consistent aid levels. These countries understood something that the large central powers of Europe sometimes take time to grasp: what is happening in Ukraine is not a peripheral conflict. It is a war for the fundamental principles of the European order. And those who live closest to the danger understood that first.

Finland and Sweden, now NATO members, have joined this Nordic dynamic with an acute awareness of what a Russian victory in Ukraine would mean. Denmark, for its part, did not wait to be directly threatened to understand that the threat is real. That is a form of political farsightedness that deserves to be highlighted.

There is something deeply healthy about Nordic foreign policy: a capacity to see things as they are, without the distortion of major economic interests with Russia. No pipelines to protect, no gas contracts to preserve. Just principles, values, and the awareness that history is knocking at the door.

A letter to Kyiv

Volodymyr Zelensky, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukrainian soldiers at the front — this 30th Danish package is a declaration of lasting friendship, not improvised emergency aid. 672 million dollars in weapons, munitions and direct funding for your defense industry, decided by a country of 5.9 million people with no legal obligation to mobilize at this level. It is a moral choice, renewed thirty times.

I know this is not victory. I know that 672 million alone cannot close the Ukrainian sky or stop Russian tanks. But this constant commitment, this political decision renewed at the 30th package, says something important: you are not alone. Some in Europe have understood the stakes and they are not letting go. Denmark is one of them. Remember that.

What Denmark asks in return

Unlike certain partners who condition their aid on political or economic commitments, Denmark has not attached public conditions to this 30th package. It has simply delivered — weapons, funding, support for the Ukrainian industry. The implicit counterpart, if one is needed at all, is the continuation of Ukrainian resistance against Russian aggression. Which is what Ukraine is already doing every day, at the cost of blood.

This package fits into a broader mechanism: military aid to Ukraine in 2026 is increasingly taking the form of support for Ukrainian industrial autonomy. The Danish model is its leading edge. Tomorrow, if other allies adopt this model, Ukraine could become not only a country receiving aid, but a defense power that exports its know-how to its allies. The circle closes.

The Ukraine of 2026 is not the Ukraine of 2022. It has a defense industry that produces drones, missiles, armored vehicles, electronic warfare systems. The Danish model recognizes this reality and amplifies it. This may be the best strategic news in all this aid: Ukraine is becoming self-sufficient.

A sector that exploded in four years of war

Ukraine in 2026 is no longer a country waiting for Western deliveries with arms folded. Its national defense industry has experienced explosive growth since 2022. Long-range drones striking oil depots in Russia. Locally produced missiles. Innovative electronic warfare systems. The share of domestic production in Ukrainian military procurement reached, according to United24, 95 percent of weapons purchases in 2026. That is not a detail — it is a structural transformation.

It is in this context that the Danish model takes on its full significance. By funding Ukrainian state procurement from its own defense industry, Denmark is not merely supporting the immediate war effort. It is investing in the Ukrainian defense industrial base that will serve long after the conflict ends. It is funding the strategic autonomy of a country that aspires to join NATO and the European Union. This is industrial policy as much as military aid.

The European commissioner acknowledged it: one of the most innovative industries in Europe

International recognition of the quality of Ukraine's defense industry has come from the highest levels. European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius recently described the Ukrainian defense industry as "one of the most innovative in Europe" and called for its deeper integration into the European defense industrial base. These are not empty words — they are institutional recognition that opens doors.

The Danish model, by funding this industry, accelerates that integration. When a Ukrainian drone company receives Danish funds to produce drones for Ukrainian forces, it develops standards, certifications, and partnerships that bring it closer to the European defense ecosystem. This is an integration-through-production strategy, and it works.

A Ukraine that produces its own weapons, partially funded by Denmark, certified to European standards, integrated into the NATO supply chain — that is the Ukraine I want to see at the end of this conflict. Not a country permanently dependent on foreign aid, but a credible defense partner. The Danish model, step by step, is building that Ukraine.

The F-16 decision: a courageous precedent

Denmark is not at its first bold gesture toward Ukraine. The Danish decision to deliver F-16 fighters to Ukraine — announced in 2023 alongside other Nordic countries and followed through with actual deliveries — was at the time a decision that many allies had not dared take. Providing fighter aircraft to a nation in active war with a nuclear power seemed inconceivable to some. Denmark concluded that the inconceivable was necessary.

Those F-16s have since changed the Ukrainian air balance. They did not reverse the balance on their own, but they gave Ukraine a capability it sorely lacked. And the Danish decision opened the way for similar deliveries by other countries. That is the mechanics of leadership: someone has to go first. Denmark did it several times. The 30th package is part of this tradition of courageous first steps.

Credibility built through deeds

Denmark has a unique credibility with Ukraine because it acted before it spoke. It did not wait for polls to confirm popular support. It did not condition its aid on repayment guarantees. It did not calculate the political return on investment of each delivery. It assessed the situation, concluded that aid was necessary and right, and it acted. Thirty times.

This credibility, built from repeated acts, is precious beyond the monetary value of the packages. It tells Ukraine: there are allies you can count on, who do not retreat under pressure, who do not change position with every election or every call from Moscow. In a world of strategic uncertainty, this kind of reliable partner is an invaluable resource.

The Danish F-16s flying today over Ukraine carry the imprint of a courageous political decision made in Copenhagen against the advice of those who counseled caution. I sometimes wonder what those Ukrainian pilots think when they climb into those cockpits. Perhaps the same thing I do: that the courage of an ally can change the course of a war.

A direct call to the capitals that hesitate

This open letter is also addressed — perhaps above all — to the governments that are not yet at their 30th package. To Rome, which is slowing commitments for 2027. To Budapest, which blocks European mechanisms. To the capitals providing symbolic but insufficient aid. The budget argument is understandable. The public opinion argument is real. But neither of these weighs as heavily as the price paid by Ukrainians while the discussions drag on.

Denmark has shown that it is possible. With 5.9 million inhabitants, with real budget constraints, with a public opinion that is not unanimous on every decision, it has maintained significant and consistent aid. If Denmark can do it, why can't others who are larger, wealthier, and more powerful? This question deserves an honest answer, not technical explanations.

European security cannot be delegated

For decades, Europe subcontracted its security to the United States. That era is over. Washington under the Trump administration has clearly signaled that Europeans must do their share — or all of it. The funding of aid to Ukraine planned for 2026 — 70 billion euros — will happen without American contribution. That is unprecedented. And it is a responsibility that Europe must fully assume.

Denmark, with its 30th package, demonstrates that this responsibility can be met. But it cannot rest on the shoulders of a few virtuous countries while others merely watch. 672 million Danish dollars cannot compensate for Roman hesitations, Hungarian blockages, and the political calculations of less committed capitals. Europe must be collectively committed in action, not just in declaration.

Europe will rise to this historic moment or it will not. And if it does not, it will have to live with the consequences of a Russian victory on its eastern borders. I trust Denmark to understand this. I am less certain that all other capitals have truly internalized what failure would mean.

A letter that ends with a demand

This open letter begins with a sincere thank you and ends with a demand — not toward Denmark, which is already doing its share and more, but toward all those who are not yet doing enough. The 30th Danish package, with its 590 million euros, its 15,000 long-range rounds and its 198 million for the Danish model, is a standard. Not a ceiling that no one can reach — a floor that every serious country should at least match, in proportion to its size and wealth.

Ukraine holds. It holds because countries like Denmark have not let go. It will hold more firmly if other countries join this consistency. This is not a matter of pro-Ukrainian sentiment. It is a matter of documented, quantified, obvious European strategic interest. Thirty packages, 672 million, the Danish model: this is what long-term vision looks like in foreign policy.

To Ukraine and to Denmark: history is watching

Zelensky and Copenhagen — you are building something together that will outlast the tallies of 2026. A relationship of trust, a precedent of solidarity, a model of defense cooperation that will serve as a reference for the decades to come. History will record that Denmark was there, at the 30th package, when it still mattered. That simple and true sentence is worth more than all the speeches about European values.

Thank you, Denmark. And now — let the others follow.

Thirty packages, 672 million, the F-16s, the Danish model. This is not philanthropy — it is strategy. Denmark understood before many others that European security is being decided right now, in the Ukrainian plains, and that investing there is the best possible commitment for the decades ahead. History will prove it right. And to those who hesitated, history will ask hard questions.

By Maxime Marquette, columnist

Editorial stance

I am not a journalist but a columnist and analyst. My expertise lies in observing and analysing the geopolitical, economic and strategic dynamics that shape our world. My work is to take political strategies apart, to understand global economic movements, to put the decisions of international actors in context and to offer analytical perspectives on the changes that are redefining our societies.

I do not claim the cold objectivity of traditional journalism, which stops at reporting facts. I claim analytical clarity, rigorous interpretation and a deep understanding of the complex issues that concern us all. My role is to give meaning to the facts, to place them in their historical and strategic context, and to offer a critical reading of events.

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