Denmark votes on EU defense amid conflict in Ukraine

COPENHAGEN/KYIV－Polling stations opened in Denmark on Wednesday for voters to decide whether to abandon their country's 30-year-old opt-out from the European Union's common defense policy.

The referendum is the latest example of European countries seeking closer military links with allies in response to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. It also follows Sweden and Finland's historic bids to join NATO, which plans to take up their applications at the end of the month.

Nearly 4.2 million Danish voters are eligible to cast ballots in the referendum. The "yes" side－in favor of getting rid of the 1992 opt-out－has been ahead in recent months. Polls showed it with around 40 percent support and the "no" side with 30 percent. Recent polls showed that about 20 percent of voters remained undecided.

Denmark joining the EU's defense policy would have a relatively modest impact on Europe's security architecture, particularly compared to Sweden and Finland joining NATO. But Christine Nissen, a researcher with the Danish Institute for International Studies, said both moves were "part of the same story" and would strengthen military cooperation on a continent stunned by the conflict in Ukraine.

One of the founding members of NATO, Denmark has stayed on the sidelines of the EU's efforts to build a common security and defense policy in parallel with the trans-Atlantic NATO alliance. It was one of four opt-outs that the Danes insisted on before adopting the EU's Maastricht Treaty, which laid the foundation for political and economic union.

The waiver means that Denmark has not participated in the EU's discussions on defense policy, its development and acquisition of military capabilities and its joint military operations such as those in Africa and Bosnia.

Meanwhile, Denmark on Wednesday was set to become the latest European country to be targeted by Russia over gas exports, following the Netherlands, Finland, Poland and Bulgaria.

Danish energy firm Orsted said Russia's Gazprom would cut gas supplies after the Danes refused to pay in roubles, a demand Moscow is making of "unfriendly countries" in a bid to sidestep crippling Western sanctions.

In Washington, President Joe Biden said the United States will send more advanced rocket systems to Ukraine, a move that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov described as "extremely negative" and which would increase the risk of a direct confrontation.

The battle for Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine has grown in intensity in recent days, with heavy casualties on both the Ukrainian and Russian sides.

Weaponry on the way

But in a boost for the outgunned Ukrainian military, Biden has confirmed that more US weaponry is on the way. "We will provide the Ukrainians with more advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine," Biden wrote in The New York Times.

A US official told reporters the weapons being sent are HIMARS, or the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, which have precision-guided munitions and a longer range than those currently deployed by Ukraine.

The HIMARS are the centerpiece of a $700 million package being unveiled on Wednesday that includes air surveillance radar, more Javelin short-range antitank rockets, artillery ammunition, helicopters, vehicles and spare parts, the official said.

The US is attempting to help Kyiv in the conflict effort while not being seen as a direct belligerent, and the official stressed that while the weapons would be used to "repel Russian advances on Ukrainian territory", they would not be "used against Russia".

Agencies via Xinhua