In a move that will further inflame already rising tensions over Greenland, the first European troops have quietly begun arriving on the island following President Trump's repeated provocative declarations on the need for Washington to take control of the territory, according to Germany’s Bild.

The newspaper reports that a Danish military transport aircraft landed overnight in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, carrying Danish soldiers alongside members of the French armed forces.

Soon on the first plane's heels, another Danish Hercules aircraft touched down at Kangerlussuaq in western Greenland. Both planes reportedly flew with their transponders switched off - a detail unlikely to go unnoticed in an already tense Arctic standoff.

The initial German contingent of 13 soldiers arrived in Nuuk on Thursday morning. Additionally the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden are also set to participate in the deployment.

While all of these countries are NATO members, the operation is being coordinated directly from Copenhagen rather than through NATO channels, underscoring the political sensitivity of the move.

Here's how Bild describes it, according to machine translation:

Officially, it is NATO countries from Europe that are expanding their presence in Greenland. However, according to information obtained by BILD, the operation is being coordinated from Copenhagen – and NOT through NATO structures.

The reason: The Nordic states in NATO – including Greenland – are under the command of NATO headquarters in Norfolk, USA. The operation is intended to proceed without US involvement. In Germany, the Ministry of Defense and, in a leading role, the Federal Chancellery are involved.

The newspaper notes that the first troops were dispatched only after talks between Danish and Greenlandic officials and the United States collapsed Wednesday at the White House, despite agreements to establish a joint 'working group'.

Greenland remains an autonomous territory of Denmark, but the resource-rich island has long sat at the center of US strategic planning, and there are US Air Force and Space Forces bases and monitoring sites located there - some in very extreme climates.

One revealing line outside the White House Wednesday came from Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen who said it remains "clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland" - but that dialogue has not been totally abandoned.

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