Norway's military support for Ukraine will continue into next year, PM Gahr Støre says
Norway's multi-billion euro military and civilian support for Ukraine's fight against Russia's full-scale invasion will stretch into next year, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has said.
Appearing beside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday, Støre, whose country borders Russia, stressed that Ukraine was defending a "critical" European principle by refusing to accept Moscow's seizure of territory.
On Sunday, Norway pledged around 7 billion kroner (€593 million) toward air defence systems for Ukraine.
Norway and Germany are jointly helping the Ukrainians by funding two US-made Patriot anti-missile systems, with Oslo also helping procure air defence radar for Kyiv, Støre said.
European countries have been scrambling to finalise security guarantees for post-war Ukraine ahead of a possible meeting between Zelenskyy and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that could take place in the coming weeks.
Some 30 countries have been in talks since February as part of the "Coalition of the Willing", with the deployment of a "reassurance force" to deter Russia from any further attacks among the ideas being considered.
President Donald Trump said the US would be involved in Ukrainian security in some form, but has ruled out American boots on the ground.
Promises of continued support
Zelenskyy said that he would talk later this week to the US Special Envoy Keith Kellogg about American security guarantees and a possible meeting with Putin.
Kellogg was in Kyiv on Sunday attending Independence Day celebrations.
He is part of a stream of high-ranking officials who have visited the Ukrainian capital in recent days, reflecting concerns around the US-led peace push.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was in Kyiv on Sunday for meetings with Zelenskyy, pledging CA$2 billion (€1.24 billion) in aid. Before him, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visited the city on Friday.
The German Vice-Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil arrived there on Monday to discuss "how Germany can best support Ukraine in a possible peace process".
A week ago, Trump said he had set in motion arrangements for direct peace talks between Putin and Zelenskyy, but Russian officials have signalled that such a summit won’t happen any time soon.
Analysts say Putin thinks he can outlast Western governments' commitment to Ukraine and can use his army's numerical advantage to capture more Ukrainian land while peace efforts are under discussion.
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