Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson had quite the reaction to Donald Trump’s recent suggestion that the US could acquire Greenland this morning.

The president-elect has not ruled out using military or economic action to try and seize Denmark’s autonomous territory Greenland – or, in fact, the Panama Canal – since securing his second term in the White House last November.

As he continues to up his expansionist rhetoric, Trump has also suggested turning Canada into another US state, and renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.

Even though Trump is expected to be more sympathetic with Moscow over its own land grab in Ukraine, it seems Russia is actually not too keen on this “dramatic development” – especially as it has the largest Arctic coastline in the world.

According to Reuters, the Kremlin’s official spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said: “The Arctic is a zone of our national interests, our strategic interests.

“We are interested in preserving the atmosphere of peace and stability in the Arctic zone.

“We are watching the rather dramatic development of the situation very closely, but so far, thank God, at the level of statements.”

While Peskov did acknowledge that this was a matter for the US and Denmark, he still managed to find a way to criticise Europe for its cautious response to Trump.

He said: “Europe reacts very timidly and it is of course scary to react to Trump’s words, therefore Europe reacts very cautiously, modestly, quietly, almost in a whisper.”

Foreign secretary David Lammy said this morning that it was “classic Donald Trump” to make such controversial statements, but refused to condemn him.

Meanwhile, German chancellor Olaf Scholz said the EU would not tolerate any violation of Greenland’s borders.

The Kremlin’s intervention comes as Moscow is struggling to remove the Ukrainians from their occupation of the Russian region Kursk.

The UK’s ministry of defence (MoD) revealed in its latest update on X that Ukraine is continuing to “defend its salient of territory in Kursk against persistent attacks by Russian and North Korean forces”.

It added: “Despite high casualties, Russia has only been able to make minor advances against Ukrainian-held territory in recent weeks.”

Kyiv was also able to set up a limited armoured counter-attack against Russian forces on January 5, according to the MoD.

But Moscow is still making some progress with its attacks on the other side of the border, in Ukraine. 

The intelligence officers said central Donetsk was “most volatile area of the frontline in eastern Ukraine”.

“Russian forces have largely seized the towns of Kurakhove,” the MoD said, noting Moscow began attacks there in mid-November.

They added that Russian forces have “advanced westward and seized villages and occupying positions four kilometres from the south of the city.”