Norway will join the initiative to supply additional air defense systems to Ukraine and allocate billions of euros for this. Prime Minister Jonas Gar Støre said that significant sums would be used both from the Nansen program (Norwegian support packages for Ukraine), as well as from the revised state budget.
“Every morning on the news there are reports of Russian missiles and drones that have hit civilian buildings, power plants and killed many people. Ukraine has been able to defend itself against this, but it is starting to run out,” Store told local TV 2.
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Revised state budget
“In the revised budget we will also plan to be able to provide sufficient funds for Norway to participate in this initiative (for air defense – note ed.) from the beginning,” he added.
The Nansen program is a Norwegian support package for Ukraine, providing military and civilian aid in the amount of NOK 75 billion spread over five years.
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On Sunday, the Norwegian Prime Minister held meetings with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Støre informed them that Norway would participate in the international air defense initiative of the war-torn country.
Air defense from own stocks
“We have very little time to delay, so Norway will participate in the funding. There are also several other countries that contribute to this, because there are air defenses that can go into Ukraine quite quickly, and they have been working intensively on this for the last several days and weeks. It takes time to make air defenses. This has been the pattern so far. We also have to increase production,” said the Norwegian prime minister.
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