Monday Morning News & Notes
Sabotage Marine Drama. COVID vaccines saved millions of lives.
Cable Sabotage
Denmark, Sweden, and Germany now all have military vessels stationed around the Chinese freighter Yi Peng 3, which remains at anchor in the Kattegat Strait. While Danish naval ships take turns keeping around-the-clock watch on the freighter, the Swedish Coast Guard’s KBV-001 arrived over the weekend and is now on patrol in close proximity to the anchored ship. The Swedish coast guard vessel specializes in ocean salvage and marine surveillance. On Saturday, the Bad Duben, a German naval patrol vessel, also arrived and took up station nearby.
The Chinese freighter is a vessel of interest in the investigation into the sabotage of two undersea data cables in the Baltic. The cables were damaged a week ago. The freighter, Yi Peng 3, is believed to have been in proximity at the time.
Over the week end, a marine expert as taken by boat near the anchored Chinese freighter by Danish national broadcaster DR. He observed that the ship’s anchor seemed to have taken some unusual damage.
Swedish investigators have already turned over the first batch of evidence to Swedish prosecutors. The evidence presumably contains video taken by underwater submersibles and anything recovered from the seabed from the site where the first cable was damaged.
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Repairs could begin as early as today on the underwater data cables in Baltic that were damaged just over a week ago. A special undersea cable repair vessel departed Calais, France, last Thursday, according to Cinia, which operates one of the two damaged cables. Weather conditions in the Baltic could also impact repair efforts.
🍃Environment & Energy⚡️
🇬🇧
The United Kingdom got whacked with more wild weather over the weekend. Storm Bert crashed across the country wreaking havoc, knocking out power, causing flooding, traffic chaos, and cancelled flights and ferries. More than 100 flooding warnings were issued across the UK.
🇸🇪
Sweden was also bracing for a visit from Storm Bert, which was expected two arrive last night. The Swedish Meteorological Institute has issued weather alerts warning drivers to expect slippery icy conditions. At higher elevations the storm will bring heavy winds and snow.
🇩🇰
The cold front sweeping across Denmark over the last week has hit those with the least the hardest. Both Blue Cross and the Church of the Cross, which run shelter spaces for those on the street, have seen demand surge to the point they have had to turn people away. In one case, a shelter had people draw lots to see who got beds for the night.
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The massive amount of rain and flooding last winter and spring has had a big impact on crop yields in Denmark. This year, some 7.6 million tonnes of grain were harvested, which is 16% below what is considered a normal harvest yield. It was the wettest growing season in the country in the last 150 years.
Winter wheat crops were particularly hard hit, but spring barley yields also took a sizable hit.
That said, Aarhus University Department of Agricultural Ecology Professor Jørgen E. Olesen told DR that he is cautiously optimistic that 2025 won’t be as bad.
“I think we will generally see an improvement in yields for both winter and spring in the future. It is an improvement of sorts. But it all depends on the weather in the coming growing season.”
Danish Meteorological Institute Climate Researcher Karsten Arnbjerg-Nielsen says due to climate change, long-term weather forecasts are a bit of a crap shoot.
“It's warmer. There is more CO2 in the air, and that is actually good for the plants. The climate in the form of precipitation and temperatures is becoming more unstable, and this will overall result in a lower harvest yield in Europe going forward. It is just difficult to predict exactly where there will or will not be a bad harvest next year.”
He says it is hard to find another country in Europe that suffered a worse harvest season than Denmark.
🇪🇸
The flooding in and around Valencia in Spain at the end of October, caused massive damages and for the first time we are getting a clearer picture of the destruction they left behind.
According to Spanish TV station RTVE, around 120,000 cars are so badly damaged they will have to be scrapped. Many of them are still sitting on roads, in fields, and anywhere the flood waters left them. Nearly 1,000 firefighters, approximately 8,500 soldiers, and approximately 10,000 police officers are participating in the cleanup effort. On average, some 15,000 tonnes of mud and waste are removed from the disaster zone each day. 221 lives were lost and a handful of people are still considered missing. The Spanish newspaper El Pais writes that the clean-up could take an entire year.
People are still dealing with the flooding aftermath, with sewer systems clogged with mud and debris, meaning no functioning water lines or toilets. In some places, a putrid smell is now being reported.
The damages aren’t limited to just cars and city infrastructure. as the flood waters also took out agricultural fields and destroyed forests. Asaja, Spain’s largest agricultural association, says the flooding will cost billions of euros in lost crops and damaged fields. The consequences are already being felt with British companies having to look elsewhere for things like oranges.
🇮🇳 🌎
Climate change is hitting global tea production. India is the second-largest tea exporter in the world, after China. However, according to the Tea Board of India, tea production has fallen by 30% compared to last year. This is due to extreme weather, as searing hot temperatures replace what was once supposed to be the rainy season. This has sideswiped India’s tea production.
In India, in September, almost every day of the month was affected by extreme heat, droughts, and floods, and other extreme weather events.
Tea is the latest crop to suffer climate change-related setbacks. In the last year alone, the price of chocolate and olive oil has both soared to record highs as extreme weather events impacted crops, reducing supply, and sent prices rocketing upward.
🌎
Global warming isn’t just causing more hurricanes; it is also making them stronger. A study from Climate Central, an independent organization of scientists, has found that global warming has increased wind strength in hurricanes in the Atlantic by eight meters per second.
Researcher Daniel Gilford:
“All hurricanes in 2024 were stronger than they would have been 100 years ago.”
The researchers analyzed how record-high ocean temperatures affected hurricanes in the Atlantic. They found that since 2019, over 30 hurricanes in the Atlantic were more powerful by a full point on the five-point scale, while three were rated the most severe as category five storms.
“The record temperatures in the sea, which are due to human carbon dioxide emissions, are exacerbating the disasters caused by hurricanes.”
Warmer ocean waters give storms more energy, which leads to higher wind speeds. A global marine heat wave over the last year was one of the reasons scientists forecast an above-average hurricane season in the Atlantic this year. However, it is not just wind speed; a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which leads to more intense rainfall during storms.
🇪🇺🇩🇰
Gas withdrawal season has begun for European gas reserves. Temperatures have plunged across a swath of the EU, including winter storms, freezing temperatures, and the first snow of the season across the Nordics. This has resulted in an increase in gas use as people begin turning the heat up.
Unlike recent winters, the EU and various European national governments have largely not been loudly preaching about the need for energy conservation. That might end up being a mistake. The head of the International Energy Agency is already waiving a caution flag over the rate of gas withdrawals across Europe and it is only November.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol
“EU gas storage withdrawals have surged lately. Ensuring ample gas storage for later this winter is important to mitigate market risks, with a potential halt to Russian gas transit via Ukraine looming.”
Birol adds that global LNG supply should increase to what he called a “supply wave” that will ease gas markets in the 2nd half of the decade.
🇩🇰
Denmark will be the first country in the world to levy an agricultural carbon tax. Political negotiations over the last aspects of the green tripartite agreement were officially hammered out last week.
The agreement includes:
An agricultural carbon tax of 300 kroner per tonne of CO2 (about $58 Cdn), which rises to 750 kroner (about $147 Cdn) in 2035.
Farmers will also receive an agricultural deduction based on a number of factors specific to each farm.
Nitrogen emissions from fertilizers leaching into waterways will be reduced by 13,780 tonnes per year beginning in 2027. The Danish island of Bornholm gets an exemption because it lies so close to the Swedish coast where unchecked Swedish nitrogen emissions far outweigh anything from the island.
Denmark will convert approximately 10% of the country’s total land area to nature and forests by 2045.
The final details reveal that the Danish government moved off its position of siding with the agricultural sector on the lowest amount of nitrogen reductions among the three options on the table. The final agreed -upon amount is a slight increase on the middle option.
7.3 billion Danish kroner (about $1.4 billion Cdn) will be needed to ensure all of the agreement’s measures are implemented. The political parties involved in the negotiations say “it may be necessary” to ease fiscal policies beginning in 2026 in order to find the money to bridge the current fiscal gap.
The agreement was a landmark deal struck between agricultural interests, environmental groups, and the government. Reaction to the final pieces of the puzzle being hammered out swiftly came pouring.
The chair of the Danish Agriculture and Food Administration (Landbrug & Fødevarer), Søren Søndergaard:
“I am proud of the agreement we entered into with the parties back in June, and I am of course satisfied that it has now been confirmed by a broad political majority that supports the agreement in its entirety and at the same time recognizes that it is on a comprehensive and balanced agreement.”
The President of Denmark’s Nature Conservation Association, Maria Reumert Gjerding, hailed the final deal.
“There will be a climate tax, and there will be a plan to bring life back to our fjords and coastal waters through the conversion of agricultural land to nature. I would like to thank the government and the parties for standing together on this.”
The political director of Danish Industry Morten Høyer, says the agreement will result in a better Denmark.
“The CO2 tax must deliver a real green transition, and it must be phased in at a pace so that both farmers can keep up and so that we don't just send a climate bill to our neighbouring countries. I find it difficult to see how a better deal can be found for both our nature and agriculture.”
The chair of the National Association of Municipalities (KL), Martin Damm, called the deal historic.
“We have a big and important task together with the local farmers and nature organizations. The agreement will change the Danish areas for decades to come. Big changes are planned for our country, but they are necessary. To that extent, nature and the climate need us to do something else.”
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Amid all the praise, there is one group that is a lot more restrained with its reaction to the green tripartite deal, the Danish Sports Fisherman’s Association.
Federation Chair Torben Kaas called the deal “good” but also noted his organization has some concerns. He says if an agreement on joint regulation in the Baltic Sea isn’t reached with neighbouring countries, then a huge part of the problem of vanishing fish stocks will remain unaddressed.
Kaas says the other problem is that mandated reductions in nitrogen leakage into the marine environment don’t kick in for three more years. Until then, it is entirely voluntary for farmers to limit the runoff of agricultural fertilizers into waterways.
“It is the easiest prediction in the world to make that we will not reach the goal with the voluntary measures, and then three more years have passed.”
He says he is “absolutely sure” that by 2027 the situation will only have gotten worse with even tougher measures needed to address it.
“Right now we have an aquatic environment in our inland waters and fjords that is at rock bottom. At the very bottom. Every year that passes with the situation being at rock bottom, we add considerable time to how long it takes the aquatic environment to actually recover. In the end, it will be another three years of a virtually dead sea around Denmark.”
Marine environment experts at Aarhus University estimate that if the green tripartite agreement is fully implemented, then it will take between 20 and 30 years for the marine environment to be restored.
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The green tripartite agreement sets aside land between Brygge and Dragør, at Kalvebod Fælled, in Copenhagen for the creation of an urban nature park. The conversion of the area to a nature park will cost 87 million Danish kroner. The park should be completed by 2030.
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One additional detail in the green tripartite deal will likely impact meat consumers. The deal introduces a new tax on beef, and that will mean the price at the grocery store for hamburger, roasts, and steaks will rise. The tax is, of course, to incentivize consumers to choose meats that have less of an impact on the environment.
The transition appears to be well underway in Denmark. The Salling Group, which operates grocery stores like Fotex, says that beef sales have already been declining steadily while chicken meat sales are rising.
🇸🇪
A Swedish expert is warning about the dangers that climate change poses to the world’s oceans. Sam Dupont is a lecturer and researcher at the University of Gothenburg’s Department of Biology and Environmental Science, and he says the state of the Baltic has him “extremely worried.” DuPont says that over the last two decades, Baltic Sea waters have gone from being rich in fish and marine life to becoming a virtual dead zone. Starfish in particular, once numerous, have all but vanished.
Dupont says the world’s oceans sequester about a third of the CO2 emissions produced by human activity. However, ocean waters are becoming more and more acidic.
“We know for sure that it affects a great many organisms. A large part of the air we breathe comes from the sea. The climate is controlled by the sea. And if the ocean is not healthy, then these things are at risk. When species disappear, the ocean is much more sensitive to future changes.”
If we continue to emit carbon dioxide at today's level, the UN Climate Panel expects acid levels in the world’s oceans to eventually reach a level that would be devastating for all marine life.
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The Swedish Government’s proposed plan to restore aquatic environments without disrupting hydropower production is going over like a lead balloon. The Nature Conservancy said the plan should by “thrown in the trash.” Similar harsh criticism is also being levelled at the plan by other groups who are being consulted.
🇩🇰
Danish authorities can’t seem to figure out the climate impact of avocados. The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration was due to issue a label for avocados detailing their environmental impact in order for consumers to be more informed when they shop. However, the watchdog organization Food Watch says the label, which was due to be issued later next year, will be delayed. The Veterinary and Food Administration says it is having trouble gaining access to the data it needs to determine the climate impact of avocados.
🇺🇦/ 🇷🇺
Russia’s war in Ukraine isn’t just destroying homes and taking lives, it is also causing massive environmental damage. Ukraine has become the first country in history to begin calculating the environmental costs while an active war continues to rage.
Staff with Ukraine’s Environmental Prosecutors Office estimate environmental damages at over 100 billion dollars. Environmental inspectors are busy tracking war-related pollution in the ground, in the air, and in the water. They take samples after missile strikes and other attacks. Those samples are then tested in a lab and the results documented.
🇨🇳🌍
Global EV sales are being driven by China. According to CleanTechnica, Chinese EV maker BYD set a new record for electric vehicle sales in September, selling 399,000 fully electric and hybrid plug-in vehicles. Tesla sold 191,430 EVs in the same month. Year to date, BYD has moved 2.6 million electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles out the door, while Tesla sales are at almost 1.3 million.
🇪🇺🇩🇪🇩🇰
So far this year, electric vehicle sales across Europe have increased by 7.1% compared to 2023, if you remove Germany from the calculation.
Dansk eMobilitet Director John Dyrby Paulsen:
“In some countries, sales of electric cars are going very well; in others, drivers have pressed the brakes, at least for now. Generally speaking, we are on the right track, although I could wish for more speed in the transition.”
Paulsen says, contrary to some reports, EV sales are not in crisis across Europe. Although he notes his statistics include the greater European Economic Area and Great Britain while excluding Germany.
“We see the greatest growth in Malta, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, and Belgium. I think it is interesting that the development is spreading to more and more countries. This makes the market for electric cars more robust.”
It is noteworthy that as the German economy struggles narrowly avoiding a recession last month, EV sales plummeted by 26.6%, dragging down EU statistics.
But the Danish automotive association sees some hopeful signs as it looks across the border to Germany.
“We are seeing price drops on a number of electric cars, and there are constantly more, including German, models to choose from. Some of the new models are smaller electric cars aimed at new target groups, so I expect that in 2025 Germany will increase sales and pull the European average higher.”
Another factor is the tightening of EU emissions standards that comes into force next year as Europe strives to reach its goal of being carbon neutral by 2050. The strengthening of the rules will have an impact on automobile production facilities, with heavy fines being levied on facilities that are not compliant. The tightened rules could drive EV prices lower while increasing the cost of fossil fuel vehicles.
🇫🇮
With over half of the emissions in Finland’s capital produced by vehicle traffic, the city of Helsinki is looking at every option to reign those emissions in. According to the Deputy Mayor of the Urban Environment, Anni Sinnemäki, one of the ideas getting the most consideration is introducing an environmental zone in the city center. Cities around Europe have adopted similar measures that, with some variations, look to reduce or even outright ban fossil fuel vehicles from the urban city center. Such an environmental zone will be introduced in Stockholm, Sweden, next year, and in Denmark’s capital and other major cities in the country, a similar environmental zone was enacted last year.
“The goal of the zone is primarily to improve air quality and secondarily to accelerate the electrification of the car fleet.”
Sinnemäki says the current concept would be to establish a small emissions-free zone in Helsinki city centre, which would be expanded over time. Only electric vehicles would be allowed to drive within the zone, with some exemptions for emergency vehicles. City politicians could propose the plan next year, and at this point an implementation date has yet to see the light of day.
Currently, about 8.3% of vehicles in Helsinki are fully electric, while 10.8% are plug-in hybrids.
Besides the environmental zone, Helsinki is also looking to reduce emissions by electrifying public ferries and encouraging people to use their bicycles more.
🇩🇰
Opposition to the green energy transition has become a major issue in one of Denmark’s greenest municipalities. Ringkøbing-Skjern Kommune produces more green energy than any other municipality in the country, roughly ten times the municipal average. However, it appears the people living there have had enough. With solar cell farms springing up all over the municipality, the issue has become a bit of a fire starter in local elections.
A Danish member of parliament, Mads Fuglede, recently switched parties over his opposition to solar cell farms and is now running for mayor of the municipality. He is promising to put an end to any more solar power farms and instead mandate they be placed on rooftops, not in fields.
“I think it is a shame that it is our rural districts that have to put up with the fact that the government has a very unwise policy when it comes to solar cells.”
🦠Outbreaks🦠
🇩🇰
The Statens Serum Institute classifies the number of COVID infections and hospital admissions as being at “a medium level” in its latest weekly assessment. The number of infection cases continues to decline.
COVID activity as measured by wastewater surveillance increased slightly week to week.
Of concern, RS virus cases have begun to rise and influenza infections also crept upward as we enter the winter respiratory virus season.
On the vaccination front, COVID vaccine uptake among vulnerable seniors is 67% while influenza vaccination is at 68%. Among seniors in care the combined vaccination rate is 82%.
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A mycoplasma pneumonia epidemic continues to rage in Denmark. The SSI says the number of confirmed infections continues to grow but it is, so far, not putting any great pressure on hospitals.
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A major vaccine study from the Nordics has found that last year’s updated bivalent COVID booster dose significantly reduced the risk of hospitalization and death for vulnerable seniors. For elderly people over 65 the variant specific vaccine booster, formulated to target the XBB.1.5 variant, reduced the risk of hospitalization by 58% and the chance of a severe infection resulting in death by a whopping 75%.
Statens Serum Institute Department Head Anders Hviid:
"Our study shows that the updated vaccine provided significant protection against severe coronavirus infection in the elderly. It is particularly reassuring that the vaccine's protective effect lasted throughout the winter season.”
The study had over 3.9 million participants across Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. It concluded that for every 100,000 people who received the updated vaccination, 155 hospital admissions and 120 deaths were prevented.
"The results support the value of offering older citizens an annual COVID vaccination, even if they have previously been vaccinated many times and have probably also been infected one or more times. We see a significant health gain, especially among the most vulnerable, seniors over 75 years old"
You can read the study in full HERE.
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Over the winter Danish health experts will conduct a study on the efficacy of the new RS virus vaccine. 130,000 people in Denmark will be recruited to conduct the study, which will try and determine how effective the vaccine is in reducing the number of RSV-related hospitalizations and if there is any spill-over protection against other respiratory infections. That is according to a press release from Herlev and Gentofte Hospitals.
Professor and chief physician, Tor Biering-Sørensen, says more and more data seems to show that vaccines provide protection against more than the primary disease they are designed to protect against.
“This is why we will have to do studies on such a large scale to really gain insight into whether the data hits the mark or whether it is just coincidence.”
Study participants will be recruited by invitation sent out via Denmark’s national encrypted email system, eboks.
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Thanks to a warming climate, the danger posed by tick bites has become an almost year-round concern in Denmark.
RUC Department of Natural Sciences and Environment Researcher Karen Angeliki Krogfeldt:
“Previously, you could be bitten until the autumn holidays and not much later than that. But now we can see that people register tick bites into December, and that is almost a month and a half later than usual.”
Ticks normally hibernate when temperatures sink close to zero; however, a warming climate means shorter and shorter periods of cold weather.
Odense University Hospital Department of Clinical Biology Ward Doctor Nanna Skaarup Andersen says tick bite patients are becoming more and more regular during the late fall and into winter.
“We simply have more people being examined, and thus also more people being diagnosed with diseases.”
The same is being reported at medical clinics and veterinary practices across the country.
Lyme disease is the most well-known of the tick-borne diseases, but there are others, and the symptoms can be wide-ranging for some people. They include radiating pain in the neck and shoulder, some degree of facial paralysis, and other bacterial infections.
🇸🇪
In Sweden, COVID hospitalizations (303) crept upwards (+4) while the number of severely infected people needing intensive care (6) declined slightly (-3).
🌍 💉
Our World in Data has published a fascinating look at the data of the COVID pandemic.
You can take a look at it HERE.
The chart that caught my eye showed that COVID vaccines have saved millions of lives and continue to save lives today. The numbers are staggering, with researchers estimating that vaccines saved around 20 million lives in just the first year that they became available.
🇺🇦Ukraine/ Russia War🇷🇺
🇷🇺/ 🇺🇦
Russia launched a newly developed hypersonic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro over the weekend. A spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was a message to the west in response to the United States and other countries allowing long-range missiles donated to Ukraine to be used against targets in Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says work is underway on new air defense systems to counter this new threat. The missile reached speeds of Mach 3 before crashing into the city.
🇷🇺
Russian President Vladimir Putin is doing everything he can to avoid large-scale mobilization in order to keep fighting in Ukraine. Over the weekend, Putin signed a new law that will write off a significant amount of debt for anyone who signs a one-year military contract to fight in Ukraine. After December 1, anyone who signs on the dotted line can have debts of up to what amounts to about $190,000 Canadian just wiped away.
The Russian economy is teetering, and interest rates are extremely high for loans and credit. In 2023, the average monthly income in Russia was just 73,709 rubles, which is about $988 Cdn.
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The window, the natural predator of Russians who disagree with the Putin regime, has struck again. 39-year-old Russian ballet star Vladimir Shklyarov posted about his opposition to the Ukraine war on his Facebook account. Last week, he fell to his death from a fifth-floor window.
Shklyarov was the highest-ranking dancer at the Mariinsky Ballet Theatre in Saint Petersburg and has also danced at the Royal Ballet in London and the Bavarian State Ballet in Munich.
🇷🇺🇰🇵
Soldiers and weapons for oil. That seems to be the deal Russia has struck with North Korea. The BBC has obtained satellite images showing a steady stream of North Korean oil tankers visiting Russian oil terminals. They appear to be arriving empty and leaving full. The British national broadcaster estimates over one million barrels of oil have been sent to North Korea just since March.
In turn, North Korea is supplying a massive amount of artillery ammunition, artillery systems, and at least 12,000 soldiers to help Russia fight in Ukraine.
🇩🇰 🇺🇦
Last Tuesday marked 1,000 days since Russia began its ill-fated invasion of Ukraine. The grim milestone was marked by words of support for Ukraine from political leaders across Europe. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen took it a step further, showing up in Kyiv to visit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in person. The two held a press conference where Frederiksen announced Denmark is donating another billion kroner (about $198 million Cdn) to help Ukraine’s defense industry.
Frederiksen also took advantage of the moment to say Ukraine’s Western allies need to step up their support for Ukraine, get donations to the country much faster, and remove any restrictions on how Ukraine can use the weapons being given to them.
“This setting up red lines gives the Russians far too many good cards in their hand, and they have no red lines. The red lines for us have in fact been crossed a long time ago. It already happened when Russia invaded Ukraine.”
Speaking later with DR, Frederiksen added that Europe must stand united with Ukraine.
“If Europe and the West are not willing to stand up for themselves, then there will be no Europe at some point or another, said the prime minister. I personally do not think that this is primarily about Ukraine. I think it's about Russia. And that's why I don't think Russia will stop at Ukraine either.”
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Ukraine moved quickly to take advantage of permission from the United States, France, and Britain to use donated long-range missiles to strike targets inside Russia. Long-range Storm Shadow missiles were used to hit large ammunition depots and a command centre, where it is reported that a North Korean general was injured.
Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen says with incoming U.S. President Donald Trump set to return to the White House, a lot of things are now up in the air. Rasmussen says the focus now is putting Ukraine in the "strongest possible starting position when and if the dynamics of this war change.”
“President Zelenskyy himself has also been out to give his prognosis that this will probably move onto a diplomatic track at some point. And there, of course, it is about Ukraine having the strongest possible position.”
Rasmussen was also critical of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz calling Vladimir Putin for the first time in over two years.
“If the purpose of the phone call was to get Putin to stop the war, then it has in any case not succeeded. Because what we saw immediately afterwards was the most massive Russian attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure that has been seen for a very, very long time.”
🇸🇪 🇺🇦
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov says he has reached a deal with his Swedish counterpart, Pål Jonson, for Sweden to finance the production of long-range drones for Ukraine using the ‘Danish model.’
The Danish model, which is being adopted across Europe, means instead of a country dipping into its own military stockpiles to provide donations to Ukraine, they instead donate money for the procurement of weapons and equipment. The contracts are with Ukrainian defense contractors. This has the twofold impact of taking pressure off of domestic weapons, ammunition, and equipment stockpiles while building out Ukraine’s defense sector so weapons and ammunition can be produced closer to the front lines.
🇸🇪
The Swedish government has sent out a new version of its preparedness guide ”In case of crisis or war” to every household in the country. The last preparedness brochure was sent out in 2018. This updated version has a different tone than the last one, reflecting the deteriorating security situation in Europe and the growing threat of war.
Advisor to the Director General of the Civil Contingencies Agency Svante Werger:
“We speak more about the serious military threats and the potential risk of war and what you can do to prepare for that kind of situation.”
Among other things, the pamphlet advises people about how much food, water, and medicine to keep on hand in the event of a national crisis or war.
🇸🇪 🇺🇸
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson warned incoming U.S. President Donald Trump of “major consequences for Europe” if he chooses to end U.S. military aid for Ukraine. The two spoke early last week. Kristersson says with Trump set to return to the White House, Europe needs to prepare for the possibility for some seismic shifts in policy.
Kristersson spoke about his conversation with Trump with SVT’s Morgonstudion:
“He asked many questions about how we saw the situation in Ukraine. I described precisely how we see the situation, both why Ukraine is such an important existential issue for our security but also why transatlantic cooperation has been incredibly important. I understood that he really acknowledged it, but that does not mean that the US will make the decisions that we think they should make.”
Kristersson said that if Trump tries to force peace negotiations, it is Sweden’s position that those talks must only take place on Ukraine’s terms.
Trump has pledged to stop the Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office.
🇩🇰 🇸🇪 🇫🇮 🇳🇴 🇱🇻 🇵🇱 🇪🇪 🇱🇹
This week, prime ministers from the Nordic and Baltic countries, along with Poland, will meet to discuss the war in Ukraine.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson:
“The Nordic countries and the Baltic countries are together the second largest contributor militarily, so we have certainly done our part, but we must also be prepared to do more.”
🇪🇺/ 🇷🇺
The European Union could table a new round of sanctions to throw on the pile already facing Russia for its illegal invasion of Ukraine. The new sanctions package is unlikely to contain anything groundbreaking and will probably do things like target Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers that it uses to skirt sanctions on its oil and gas.
The last batch of sanctions included measures aimed at specific vessels within the ‘shadow fleet’.
🇺🇸/ 🇷🇺
The United States imposed new sanctions on Russia. The new sanctions package is directed at 50 different financial institutions with connections to Russia. On the list is Russia’s largest bank, Gazprombank, which somehow has avoided sanctions until now.
According to a press release, the sanctions aim to “further limit Russia's abuse of the international financial system to help finance its war against Ukraine.”
🇫🇷🇺🇦
France has given Ukraine the green light to use donated SCALP air-launched cruise missiles to hit military targets inside Russia. French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed the news on Saturday. He said another donation of roughly a dozen SCALP missiles will be headed Ukraine’s way later this year.
🇵🇱🇪🇺🇺🇦/ 🇷🇺
Poland’s Foreign Affairs Minister is putting a lot of weight on the next meeting with his EU counterparts. Minister Radoslaw Sikorski says the next ministerial meeting will decide the EU’s future. Sikorski says that Europe must take all possible measures to ensure that it is not possible to move land borders by force on the continent.
“History is being written in Ukraine and in our part of the world right now. What we do and don't do during the foreign ministers' meeting can determine the EU's confidence in the future and the Union's role as a strategic player.”
Poland has been one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters during the war and one of the toughest European critics of Russia.
🇺🇸 🇺🇦
The Biden administration is sending another weapons donation to Ukraine as the White House looks to get Ukraine whatever it needs before incoming U.S. President Trump takes over. This latest package is valued at $275 million USD. The package includes, among other things, HIMARS ammunition, anti-tank weapons, javelin missiles, and more.
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The Biden administration has also switched gears and has now given permission for Ukraine to use anti-personnel mines, which the United States will also donate. This is in response to Russia’s tactic of sending human waves against Ukrainian lines in a bid to overwhelm defenders at a terrible cost in human lives.
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It has now been just over a year since Finland closed its crossings along its land border with Russia. Deputy Commander of the South-East Finland Border Guard, Lieutenant Colonel Heikki Ahtiainen, spoke with Finnish national broadcaster Yle to say that all is calm on the eastern front. He says despite fears of illegal immigration, the border zone is quiet without any unauthorized crossings. The Finnish Border Guard has dramatically stepped up surveillance with an increase in patrols, the use of specialized dogs, and drones. Ahtiainen says the lines of communication are open with Russian authorities on the other side of the border with regular exchanges of information.
Finland closed its land border with Russia due to a massive increase in illegal migrants who were directed to the border by a coordinated effort on the Russian side, another aspect of Putin’s hybrid warfare tactics against the west.
NATO 🇺🇸
New NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has met with incoming U.S. President Donald Trump. The two sat down in Palm Beach, Florida, over the weekend. So far, no details of what the two discussed have been released.
Odds & Ends
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This year’s Christmas market at Kongens Nytorv will look a little different this year. Vendors won’t be selling German fudge, nuts, or bratwursts, instead, the focus is on locally made Danish products. Copenhagen Council has been pushing to ensure that Christmas markets in the city reflect a local Danish Christmas. This year’s julemarked at Kongens Nytorv is the first result of that work.
Mayor of Culture and Leisure Mia Nyegaard:
“A Danish Christmas for me can be many different things, but in relation to a Copenhagen Christmas market, it has been important to get local Copenhageners engaged.”
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The number of struggling families in Denmark seems to be growing. The Blue Cross says it has received a record number of applications from families seeking some Christmas help. 21,285 applications were received, a 15.5% year-over-year increase.
The Blue Cross offers struggling families who qualify a gift card worth 700 kroner (about $137 Cdn) that they can spend at the Lidl grocery store chain.
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The 270 kilometre-long archipelago trail in Stockholm has made it on to the National Geographic list of the world’s top 25 best destinations in 2025. Sweden boasts the largest archipelago in the Baltic and the fourth largest in the world, with some 30,000 islands stretching out off the coast of the capital, Stockholm. The newly established trail crosses just 21 of those islands, passing a variety of cultural sites, including some dating back to the Viking age.
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Finnish airline FinnAir has cancelled around 300 flights between December 9 and 13 due to strike action by the company’s pilots. Negotiations between the two sides broke down last week. Some 33,000 passengers have been impacted so far, with the likelihood of more cancelled flights to come.