Denmark–Ukraine relations are the current and historical relations between

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Denmark recognized Ukraine on 31 December 1991, and diplomatic relations were established on 12 February 1992. Denmark supports Ukraine in line with the

Eastern Partnership The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a joint initiative of the European Union, together with its member states, and six Eastern Europe, Eastern European countries. The EaP framework governs the EU's relationship with the post-Soviet states of Armen ...

and has contributed to reforming various Ukrainian sectors. Denmark has been described as a key partner for Ukraine. Denmark is a member of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, which Ukraine applied for in 2022. Both countries are members of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. Denmark has since the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

aided the

Armed Forces of Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

with around 8.5 billion euros.

Early ties

In 1918 or 1919, Denmark recognized the

Ukrainian People's Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) was a short-lived state in Eastern Europe. Prior to its proclamation, the Central Council of Ukraine was elected in March 1917 Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, as a result of the February Revolution, ...

. From 1919 - 1991, Ukraine was part of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

as the

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

. Denmark on the other hand is member of the

Western Bloc The Western Bloc, also known as the Capitalist Bloc, the Freedom Bloc, the Free Bloc, and the American Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of countries that were officially allied with the United States during the Cold War (1947–1991). While ...

, being a founding member of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. The two countries had no official ties during this period and diplomacy was conducted with the

in the Danish embassy in Moscow. Following the independence of Ukraine on 24 August 1991, Denmark recognized the latter on 31 December 1991. Formal diplomatic relations was established months later, on 12 February 1992.

Modern ties

During the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Prime Minister of Denmark

Anders Fogh Rasmussen Anders Fogh Rasmussen (; born 26 January 1953) is a Danish politician who was the prime minister of Denmark from November 2001 to April 2009 and the Secretary General of NATO, secretary general of NATO from August 2009 to October 2014. He became ...

welcomed Ukraine in the

but said that Ukraine needed more reforms before they can join the European Union. In 2004, to strengthen ties with Ukraine, Denmark opened an embassy in Ukraine. Denmark supported the EU membership candidate status for Ukraine in 2022.

High level visits

Danish Foreign Minister

Niels Helveg Petersen Niels Lolk Helveg Petersen (; informally Niels Helveg; 17 January 1939 – 3 June 2017) was a Danish politician. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 2000, having previously held the role of Minister for Economic Affairs between 1988 ...

visited Ukraine in September 1998, during the visit, both countries signed an intergovernmental protocol on financial cooperation. In March 2007, President of Ukraine

Viktor Yushchenko Viktor Andriiovych Yushchenko (, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. He aimed to orient Ukraine towards Western world, the West, European Union, and N ...

visited Denmark, to hold meetings with Danish officials about signing energy, agricultural and food cooperation agreements. In May 2011, Ukrainian Prime Minister

Mykola Azarov Mykola Yanovych Azarov (; ; née, né Pakhlo, Cyrillic: Пахло; born 17 December 1947) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician who was the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 11 March 2010 to 27 January 2014. He was the First Vice Prime Minister an ...

invited Crown Prince Frederik to Ukraine. On 30 January 2023

Prime Minister of Denmark The prime minister of Denmark (, , ) is the head of government in the Kingdom of Denmark comprising the three constituent countries: Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Before the creation of the modern office, the kingdom did not init ...

Mette Frederiksen Mette Frederiksen (; born 19 November 1977) is a Danish politician who has been the Prime Minister of Denmark, prime minister of Denmark since June 2019, and Social Democrats (Denmark)#Leaders of the Social Democrats, leader of the Social Democr ...

visited

and met

President of Ukraine The president of Ukraine (, ) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. ...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

Mykolaiv Mykolaiv ( ), also known as Nikolaev ( ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and a hromada (municipality) in southern Ukraine. Mykolaiv is the Administrative centre, administrative center of Mykolaiv Raion (Raions of Ukraine, district) and Myk ...

, where they discussed the operational situation on the Southern front of the

Military cooperation

Operation "Northern Falcon" (2009)

In March 2009, in

Thule Air Base Pituffik Space Base ( ; ; ), formerly Thule Air Base (), is a United States Space Force base located on the northwest coast of Greenland in the Kingdom of Denmark under a defense agreement between Denmark and the United States. 150 United Stat ...

, American, Danish and Ukrainian air forces transported about 140,000 gallons of fuel and 17 tons of supplies from Thule Air Base to Station Nord, which is away. Ukraine assisted with an

Ilyushin Il-76 The Ilyushin Il-76 (; NATO reporting name: Candid) is a multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Soviet Union's Ilyushin design bureau as a commercial freighter in 1967, to replace the Antonov An-1 ...

Assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (2014–2023)

Denmark began taking part in the NATO-led

capacity building Capacity building (or capacity development, capacity strengthening) is the improvement in an individual's or organization's facility (or capability) "to produce, perform or deploy". The terms capacity building and capacity development have often ...

of the

in 2014 after the

war in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

. Denmark has taken part in the British-led training mission Operation Interflex after 2015 with a staff office, training teams, translators. Moreover, soldiers from the

Royal Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy (, ) is the Naval warfare, sea-based branch of the Danish Armed Forces force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Denmark, Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and ...

and

Royal Danish Army The Royal Danish Army (; ; ) is the land-based branch of the Danish Armed Forces, together with the Danish Home Guard. For the last decade, the Royal Danish Army has undergone a massive transformation of structures, equipment and training methods ...

have trained Ukrainian soldiers as well. In January 2022, Denmark supported Ukraine with 164 million DKK to support the Ukrainian defense as the Russo-Ukrainian crisis was continuing. In January 2023, the Danish Ministry of Defence announced that they would further support Ukraine by donating 19 French-made CAESAR self-propelled howitzers. Though as a further delay to Denmark's own military build-up. In May 2023, the

Danish Parliament The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...

supported the donation of 1.7 billion DKK in military equipment to support Ukraine's offensive operations in the

, including

armoured recovery vehicles An armoured recovery vehicle (ARV) is typically a powerful tank or armoured personnel carrier (APC) chassis modified for use during combat for Vehicle recovery (military), military vehicle recovery (towing) or repair of battle-damaged, stuck, a ...

engineering vehicles Heavy equipment, heavy machinery, earthmovers, construction vehicles, or construction equipment, refers to heavy-duty vehicles specially designed to execute construction tasks, most frequently involving earthwork operations or other large con ...

, demining equipment,

ammunition Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...

and

armoured vehicle-launched bridges An armoured vehicle-launched bridge (AVLB) is a combat support vehicle, sometimes regarded as a subtype of military engineering vehicle, designed to assist militaries in rapidly deploying tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles across gap-ty ...

Resident diplomatic missions

* Denmark has an embassy in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. * Ukraine has an embassy in Copenhagen. File:Embassy of Denmark in Kyiv.jpg, Embassy of Denmark in Kyiv File:Embassy of Ukraine in Copenhague.jpg, Embassy of Ukraine in Copenhagen

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denmark-Ukraine relations

Bilateral relations of Ukraine