European allies must strengthen Ukraine for battlefield, Russia negotiations — Danish PM

She made the statement during a press conference following the Vilnius summit of the Bucharest Nine and Nordic countries.

“Putin speaks of peace during the day and bombs the country at night. We are seeing a more aggressive Russian posture in the Baltic region. Danish intelligence reports that Russia sees itself as being in conflict with the West and is preparing for war against NATO. That’s why it’s essential that we take strong and necessary decisions at the NATO summit in The Hague, which is just three weeks away. In my view—and what we discussed today—is that there is only one way forward: we need to invest heavily in our collective security,” Frederiksen emphasized.

She acknowledged that merely agreeing on funding targets is not enough—it is necessary to ensure actual capabilities and to do so quickly. Member states must make sure NATO always has the full spectrum of capabilities required to defend against any threat, the Danish PM added.

“At the same time, we must continue our strong and meaningful support for Ukraine’s fight for freedom. Let me be very clear: we need to deliver what is needed on the battlefield. We must allocate more funding for weapons production directly in Ukraine. We already have a mechanism that works. I believe we must implement tougher sanctions—we must do more against the shadow fleet, Russian banks, and the financial sector,” she said, adding that Europe must also fully end its dependency on Russian energy, including oil, gas, and nuclear fuel.

Frederiksen also stressed the need to bring down the price of Russian oil. She believes this combined pressure will be enough to force Russia to engage in honest peace negotiations.

“Ukraine deserves peace, but that peace must be comprehensive, just, and lasting. It must respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. I’m sorry to say this, but I don’t think we’ve seen any sign that the Russians are ready to commit to any of that. That’s why our key task right now is to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position—both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table. Europe, of course, needs a strong and independent Ukraine. I believe the coming month will be extremely important. We don’t have much time, and we must be ready to make the right decisions on behalf of all Europeans,” Frederiksen concluded.

• On Monday, June 2, the second round of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia took place in Istanbul, Turkey.