Norway Doubles Military Aid to Ukraine and Provides Romania with 1.4 Billion NOK for Patriot Air Defence Systems
Norway, together with Germany and the United States, is providing NOK 1.4 billion to enable Romania to send Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine. This was announced by Prime Minister Jonas Gar Støre.
‘Strengthening air defence has been one of the most important needs of Ukraine since the beginning of the war. Ukraine's needs should be the basis for Norwegian support, and our support should be long-term,’ Støre said.
‘The West and Norway should step up their support for Ukraine. Air defence is one of Ukraine's most important needs. Without enough air defence equipment, it is impossible to protect military installations and the military forces that have to defend the country, and it is impossible to protect children and adults trying to live a normal life, as well as civilian infrastructure. that has to provide the population with electricity and heat during the winter. That is why it is absolutely essential to promote air defence,’ added Defence Minister Bjorn Arild Gram.
At a meeting in Reykjavik with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Norwegian Prime Minister also discussed support for Ukraine on the battlefield, in the diplomatic and financial spheres. The Prime Minister of Norway spoke about his intention to increase assistance.
‘As I said yesterday, we are currently considering an agreement in the Parliament to provide assistance to Ukraine until 2030,’ Jonas Har Stere said.
He stressed that under the programme, which was designed to last until 2027, Norway provided support to Ukraine in the amount of USD 1.5 billion a year. Under the new initiative, this amount will increase.
The parties also discussed defence cooperation with other partners and long-term security cooperation, including NATO for Ukraine, the Victory Plan, and a joint strategy for peace with partners.
The main topics of the talks included Ukraine's key needs: strengthening air defence and long-range capabilities. They also discussed working at the team level to increase the production of various military equipment, including air defence.
A separate focus of the conversation was the deployment of North Korean troops to the war zone. Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Jonas Fogh Rhee stressed that it was important to give a joint decisive response to this challenge.