Denmark plans to conscript women for military service for first time

The prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said: ‘We do not rearm because we want war. We are rearming because we want to avoid it.’ Photograph: Liselotte Sabroe/AP

Women in Denmark are to be conscripted for military service for the first time under a proposed armed forces overhaul that comes amid Europe’s worsening relations with Russia and the war in Ukraine.

“We do not rearm because we want war. We are rearming because we want to avoid it,” said the prime minister, Mette Frederiksen.