People walk past a mural depicting a woman and a polar bear on the side wall of an apartment building in Nuuk, Greenland, on January 21, 2026. PHOTO: Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP / Profimedia
The government of Greenland on Wednesday presented a new brochure that offers advice to the population in the event of a “crisis” on its territory, in the context in which the US President Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to seize the arctic island from Denmark, a NATO member country, writes AFP.
This document is “an insurance policy,” Self-Reliance Minister Peter Borg told a news conference in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, shortly after Trump called in his Davos speech for “immediate” talks on his bid to control Greenland, although he said he would not use military force to take over the island.
“We don't expect to need to use it,” Borg stressed, referring to the published guidance.
“Prepare for crises”
Hunting weapons on hand and five days' worth of food supplies are among the advice the Greenland government issued to the population in a brochure published on Wednesday to react in the event of a “crisis” in the territory coveted by Donald Trump.
The drafting of this guide, entitled “Prepare for crises – be self-sufficient for five days”, began “last year against the background of more or less long power outages”, the government in Nuuk explained.
The document recommends, in particular, stockpiling food for five days, three liters of water for each person per day, toilet paper, a radio with batteries, as well as weapons, ammunition and fishing equipment.
With a population of 57,000, Greenland is made up of almost 90% Eskimos, for whom hunting and fishing have historically been the main means of subsistence.
“Preparations are better if nothing else,” assured Peter Borg.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said on Tuesday that a military operation against Greenland was “unlikely” but that the self-governing Danish territory must also be prepared for that scenario.
Trump: “I don't need to use force”
After his return to power last January, Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted that he wants to “buy” Greenland, citing that he wants to counter the advances of Russia and China in the Arctic region.
After resuming threats in recent weeks, the US president gave assurances in a lengthy speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday that he would not use “force” to seize the Arctic island, which belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark, but at the same time called for “immediate negotiations” to acquire it.
Trump announces for the first time that he will not use force in Greenland, but “demands immediate negotiations to acquire this huge piece of ice”
“The world thought I was going to use force. I don't need to use force. I don't want to use force. I won't use force,” Trump said, referring to his threat to take over the Danish territory he wants to place under US control.
But he also claimed that the United States was the only “great power” that “is capable of defending Greenland” and accused Denmark of “ingratitude”. “Every NATO ally has an obligation to be able to defend its own territory. And it is a truth that no nation or group of nations is in a position to defend Greenland except the United States. We are a great power, much greater than the world imagines,” Trump added.
According to the most recent opinion poll, published in January this year, 85% of Greenlanders oppose the annexation of the island by the United States. Only 6% are in favor of such a move.
