Denmark has firmly rejected Russian state media claims that one of its F-16 pilots was killed in a missile strike in Ukraine, dismissing the allegations as deliberate disinformation.
Russia's TASS news agency reported on Saturday that a Danish pilot training Ukrainian F-16 crews was among three people killed when an Iskander-M ballistic missile hit a facility in Kryvyi Rih on Friday. The report cited an unnamed military source.
Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen swiftly countered the claims, stating unequivocally that "No Danish soldiers have been killed in Ukraine. It is a totally false story running in the Russian media – probably to discredit Denmark and its support to Ukraine."
Pro-Kremlin social media accounts had amplified the story, identifying the allegedly deceased pilot as Jeppe Hansen and adding unsubstantiated details about the circumstances of his presence in Ukraine.
The Danish Defense Intelligence Service had previously warned that Russia was expected to increase influence campaigns targeting Western nations to create discord and undermine unity.
Independent fact-checkers at GeoConfirmed investigated the claims and concluded the story was fabricated. They noted that combining verifiable facts with false information is a common propaganda technique used to make false narratives appear more credible.
The Danish Defense Minister characterized the incident as "a serious attempt to manipulate the information environment" during a period of heightened tensions, emphasizing that Denmark takes such disinformation campaigns seriously.