Norway: Siltanews – News Desk
The Norwegian government offered a new package of civilian and military aid to Ukraine on Monday, three years after it was invaded by Russia. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre was in Kyiv to take part in a new meeting on the crisis, but thinks it’s too early to discuss sending any peace-keeping forces into Ukraine.
Norway’s new defense minister, Tore O Sandvik of the Labour Party, spent the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine visiting Operation Gungne in Trøndelag on Monday. It’s involved with training Ukrainian soldiers and supplying them with military equipment. Sandvik is shown here with one of the Norwegian instructors.
Several opposition party leaders in Oslo now favour sending Norwegian soldiers to Ukraine, if a peace pact is agreed between Ukraine and Russia. “Of course we should also contribute along with our allies,” Guri Melby, leader of the Liberal Party, told news bureau NTB after both Sweden and the UK proposed such last week. Both the Conservatives and the Greens in Norway have proposed the same.
Prime Minister Støre doesn’t think it’s time for that yet, though, with no peace pact proposed and Ukraine not even included in preliminary and controversial meetings between Russia and the new US administration. Støre and many of those in Kyiv on Monday weren’t included in last week’s initial crisis meetings in Paris either, but they had a chance to air their thoughts with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself Monday morning.
While Støre’s defense minister spent the day visiting a training operation for Ukrainian soldiers in Trøndelag, the prime minister did announce an additional NOK 12.5 billion (around USD 1.1 billion) worth of civilian support to both Ukraine and its neighbouring Moldova this year. The funding will include energy support and nearly NOK 3.5 billion worth of gas supplies.
The Norwegian government will also contribute another NOK 3.5 billion in military support, in the form of training and equipping Ukrainian military brigades in cooperation with the Baltic countries. Norway also has been helping to train Ukrainian soldiers in the UK and Germany, and will also spend NOK 600 million developing and buying various drones for use in Ukraine.
There’s been some criticism within Ukraine about the training received overseas, with one military leader writing in Ukrainske Pravda that it hasn’t always been “synchronized with the realities of modern warfare.” Norway’s defense minister Sandvik told state broadcaster NRK on Monday that the Norwegian military is in “tight dialogue” with Ukrainian defense officials over what they need. “Together with the other Nordic and Baltic countries, we will tailor the training to fulfill Ukraine’s needs,” Sandvik told NRK.