Nordic and Baltic countries team up to fund US arms for Ukraine

PARIS — The Nordic and Baltic countries are teaming up to pay for a $500 million United States military support package of weapons and munitions for Ukraine, they said on Thursday.

Norway will contribute the lion’s share at 2 billion Norwegian kroner, or about $200 million, while Sweden will provide $60 million and Denmark around 400 million Danish kroner ($53 million) in funding, the countries said in separate statements.

U.S. President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in July announced a financial arrangement called the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List to provide military aid to Ukraine. Through the initiative, NATO allies excluding the U.S. pool funds to pay for $500-million batches of American weapons, munitions and equipment requested by the embattled country.

“This will help Ukraine get high-priority military equipment quickly,” Norway’s Defence Minister Tore O. Sandvik said in a statement . “The feedback I have received from the Ukrainians is that PURL delivers on time and that they are satisfied with the content of the military aid packages.”

Trump said on Tuesday the U.S. is no longer spending any money on Ukraine, “now they pay us through NATO.”

The Nordic-Baltic Eight countries – Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – published a joint statement on Thursday saying they’ll maintain long-term military aid for Ukraine, with the $500 million PURL package a demonstration of their support.

“Russia’s war of aggression is a long-term threat to European security, the transatlantic community and the rules-based international order,” the joint statement said. “We will not allow it to succeed. Ukraine’s security is directly connected to ours.”

The package paid for by the Nordic and Baltic countries will contain weapons and ammunition, according to Norway, which said specific contents are not made public for security reasons. Sweden said the package will strengthen Ukraine’s air-defense capabilities.

As of mid-October, NATO partners had funded four PURL packages , according to the alliance, which administers the initiative. That included the first package paid for by the Netherlands, a second one financed by Denmark, Sweden and Norway, a third funded by Germany and a fourth paid for by Canada.

The first two PURL packages included missiles for the Patriot air-defense system and HIMARS rocket artillery, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in September, with the first aid reportedly arriving that month.

Since August, the PURL initiative has provided about 75% of the missiles for Ukraine’s Patriot systems and about 90% of the missiles for other air defense systems supplied by partner countries, Ukrainian Minister of Defense Denys Shmyhal said in a social media post.

Together with the PURL package announced by the Nordic and Baltic countries, Ukraine will receive long-range 155mm artillery shells, HIMARS rockets and guided aerial bombs, according to the minister.

“This tranche of aid is critical for Ukraine’s defense and the protection of our citizens,” Shmyhal said.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——北欧和波罗的海国家周四表示，它们将联手支付美国向乌克兰提供的价值 5 亿美元的武器弹药军事援助计划的费用。

挪威将出资20亿挪威克朗（约合2亿美元），瑞典将出资6000万美元，丹麦将出资约4亿丹麦克朗（约合5300万美元），各国在各自的声明中表示。

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普和北约秘书长马克·吕特于7月宣布了一项名为“乌克兰优先需求清单”的财政安排，旨在向乌克兰提供军事援助。根据这项计划，除美国以外的北约盟国将共同出资，为这个饱受战火蹂躏的国家购买价值5亿美元的美国武器、弹药和装备。

挪威国防大臣托雷·桑德维克在一份声明中表示：“这将有助于乌克兰尽快获得高优先级的军事装备。我从乌克兰方面得到的反馈是，PURL能够按时交付，他们对军事援助物资的内容感到满意。”

特朗普周二表示，美国不再向乌克兰花费任何资金，“现在他们通过北约向我们支付费用”。

北欧-波罗的海八国——挪威、瑞典、丹麦、芬兰、冰岛、拉脱维亚、立陶宛和爱沙尼亚——周四发表联合声明称，他们将继续向乌克兰提供长期军事援助，5亿美元的PURL援助计划就是他们支持的体现。

联合声明指出：“俄罗斯的侵略战争对欧洲安全、跨大西洋共同体和基于规则的国际秩序构成长期威胁。我们绝不允许其得逞。乌克兰的安全与我们的安全息息相关。”

据挪威方面称，由北欧和波罗的海国家出资的这批物资将包含武器弹药，但出于安全考虑，挪威方面表示不会公开具体内容。瑞典方面则表示，这批物资将增强乌克兰的防空能力。

截至10月中旬，北约成员国已为四个“伙伴关系区域住房计划”（PURL）项目提供资金，北约负责管理该计划。这四个项目分别是：第一个项目由荷兰出资；第二个项目由丹麦、瑞典和挪威共同出资；第三个项目由德国出资；第四个项目由加拿大出资。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基在9月份表示，首批两批PURL援助物资包括爱国者防空导弹系统和HIMARS火箭炮，据报道，第一批援助物资已于当月抵达。

乌克兰国防部长杰尼斯·什米加尔在社交媒体上发帖称，自8月以来，PURL倡议已为乌克兰的“爱国者”导弹系统提供了约75%的导弹，并为伙伴国家提供的其他防空系统提供了约90%的导弹。

据部长称，乌克兰将连同北欧和波罗的海国家宣布的PURL一揽子计划，获得远程155毫米炮弹、HIMARS火箭和制导航空炸弹。

“这批援助对乌克兰的国防和保护我们的公民至关重要，”什米加尔说。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。