Norway allocates €350 million for military aid to Ukraine

29 October, 2024 Illustrative photo of the flags of Ukraine and Norway. Photo from open sources Norway has allocated a new aid package to Ukraine worth EUR500 million, EUR350 million of which will be used for military aid.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store stated this during a press conference with participants of the Ukraine-Northern Europe summit. During the meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, the leaders of the Northern European countries got acquainted with the assessment of what is happening on the front lines. The Prime Minister of Norway said that his country knows how many women and children are dying in Ukraine because of Russian shells and missiles.

"That is why we would like to announce a new aid package worth EUR500 million, of which EUR350 million will be allocated to the military package. We will work with our Danish colleagues to implement this initiative," the Norwegian Prime Minister added. Although this is not directly stated, the mention of cooperation with Denmark may indicate that at least part of these funds will be spent as part of the "Danish initiative" - purchasing weapons directly from Ukrainian manufacturers.

Norway's long-term assistance

At the end of September 2024, the Norwegian government proposed increasing support for Ukraine by NOK 5 billion (EUR425 million) this year and providing at least NOK 15 billion (EUR1.275 billion) a year until 2030.

"We have proposed to introduce a lower limit for our support to Ukraine, where NOK 15 billion will form the basis of support each year, instead of a ceiling of NOK 75 billion for the entire program," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store explained after a meeting with parliamentary leaders in Storting. According to him, there will be two opportunities every year to consider additional allocations in addition to what is provided for in the state budget as minimum support. Norway provides assistance under the Nansen Program.

This is a collective term for Norwegian support for Ukraine, both military and civilian. The Prime Minister did not specify how the new funds would be distributed between military and civilian assistance. According to him, it is impossible to say what will happen in the coming years, so it is important that the program is flexible.

"If there is a need to focus on reconstruction, we can turn our assistance and work methods in this direction.

I hope we can look towards the reconstruction fund, but we are not there today," he said.