The international delegation, headed by Ana Lucía Bueno, ICRC Public Health Coordinator, and Sujit Panda, Head of the Physical Rehabilitation…
Overall, Nordic and Baltic countries will allocate more than €12 billion this year to support Ukraine, about €1 billion of which is for energy support.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported this in his evening address on February 25.
“It was an active day. The Prime Minister of Norway was in Ukraine today. Jonas, thank you! Norway helps a lot — one of our biggest partners. Air defense for Ukraine, contributions to the PURL program enabling the purchase of American Patriot missiles, military packages, energy support. Norway helped us get through this winter”, — Zelenskyy said.
In his opinion, Ukraine has reached the highest level of relations with all Nordic countries — one of the most productive formats, NB8: Nordic countries plus the Baltic states.
“We recently held the corresponding summit here in Kyiv: leaders came to support us, and there were new support packages. Sweden — $1.5 billion in military aid. Norway — nearly $1.2 billion for our joint drone production. We already have de facto strategic relations with Norway, and we agreed to enshrine this in a treaty. Denmark — a support package for energy and humanitarian needs. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia also delivered additional support. Overall, NB8 countries will allocate more than €12 billion to support Ukraine this year, about €1 billion for energy support. This is extremely important for Ukraine.
Every decision, every meeting, every summit adds confidence to Ukraine, adds capacity for us to protect lives”, — he said.
He also noted cooperation with the European Union:
“Yesterday we discussed important matters with Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and António Costa, President of the European Council. The EU will participate in the restoration and strengthening of protection of Ukraine’s energy system. We discussed this in detail, and the corresponding strategy for recovery and protection for next winter is already being prepared by the government. The task is to present details by March 1, and the strategy will be approved at the national level. So that priorities are clear for every community and every region. Ursula will help us implement it”, — Zelenskyy said.
According to him, the new, twentieth EU sanctions package was also discussed in detail.
“We expect that sanctions pressure on Russia for this war will continue and will work effectively. I thank the United Kingdom for new sanctions — the largest since 2022. Australia also presented a new sanctions package. And New Zealand. And Canada. In addition, there is a new support package from Canada. And new decisions from Croatia. All of this — in these very days — clearly demonstrates that partners are with us, with Ukraine. In March, we will continue active diplomatic work — many things are already planned. We will keep strengthening Ukraine”, — Zelenskyy said.
