Norway allocates US$600 million for air defence and humanitarian support to Ukraine

Norway has decided to allocate an additional US£600 million to support Ukraine. Part of this sum will be spent on air defence and another part on humanitarian support. Source: European Pravda with reference to VG

Details: On Tuesday, political parties represented in the Stortinget (the Norwegian parliament) supported the government's proposal to increase support for Ukraine in 2024 by NOK 7 billion, or more than US£600 million.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said after the meeting that NOK 6 billion (US£540 million) of this amount would be spent mainly on air defence equipment and another billion on humanitarian support. With these changes, the total amount of Norwegian aid to Ukraine in 2024 will reach NOK 22 billion (almost US£2 billion) in direct support. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Norway for the decision on his Twitter (X) page.

"I appreciate that the majority of these funds will be used to strengthen Ukraine's air defence, which is our top priority for protecting lives. We value Norway's unfaltering support, understanding of our pressing needs, and willingness to stand by our side in the most critical time," he said.

I am grateful to the Norwegian government, led by Prime Minister @JonasGahrStore, for its decision to increase support for Ukraine by £600 million this year. I appreciate that the majority of these funds will be used to strengthen Ukraine's air defense, which is our top...

-- Volodymyr Zelenskyy / ????????? ?????????? (@ZelenskyyUa) April 30, 2024

Ine Eriksen Soreide, Chair of the Stortinget's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, noted that the overall discussion on the framework of the Norwegian aid programme is not yet complete.

In her opinion, the issue of revising the 5-year budget of the NOK 75 billion (US£6.7 billion) support programme for Ukraine should be raised now, as there are fewer funds left for the following years than originally planned. Last week, the Norwegian government reported that in recent months, Norway has provided Ukraine with military materials worth NOK 1 billion (US£90 million). During his visit to Kyiv, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said that Kyiv and Oslo completed negotiations on the bilateral security agreement and will sign it at Zelenskyy's next meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.

Its date has not yet been announced.

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