"Norway is with Ukraine all the way to victory"
The government in Oslo leaves no doubt about its position on Russia's barbaric war.
"What is going on in Ukraine is the most serious European and Norwegian security challenge of our time," Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide underlined in a social media post as he on Thursday this week arrived in Kyiv.
Just few hours before the foreign minister disembarked the train in the Ukrainian capital, Russian missiles and drones had again hit Ukrainian towns and infrastructure.
Barth Eide travels together with his government colleague Tonje Brenna, Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion. The purpose of the visit is to demonstrate Norway's continued solidarity with Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry informs.
"Ukraine is at a watershed moment and Norwegian support is more important than ever," Barth Eide underlines.
The minister argues that Russia's war against Ukraine has wide-reaching and dramatic consequences also for Norway.
"Russia's brutal war against Ukraine has turned European security thinking upside down and created the biggest threat against European and Norwegian security in many, many decades," Barth Eide says in a statement.
Norway is itself a neighbouring country to Russia. Forces normally based just few kilometres from the Norwegian border are actively involved in Moscow's barbaric onslaught on Ukrainian land. Russia is seen as a growing threat also against Norway and the Nordic region.
The visit to Kyiv comes as Norway is in the process of more than doubling its financial support to Ukraine.
In early March, the Norwegian government announced that support for 2025 is increased to 85 billion kroner (€7,24 bn).
Along with the increase in funding to Ukraine, the Norwegian government sharpens its language against Russia.
"Norway is with Ukraine all the way to victory," Barth Eide and his government says.
"That is why it is so important to come here and thank them for the fight they are taking for all of us. Norway and Europe will not turn our backs on them, rather the contrary. We will stand with the Ukrainians until peace comes and until the country is rebuilt."
