Norway will more than double its aid to Ukraine in 2025 to bring the annual total to 7.8 billion US dollars, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced Thursday, expressing concern that Russia was "heavily arming".

Ukrainian Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov participated in a meeting of the Nordic-Baltic 8 (NB8), where the Baltic and Northern European countries presented new initiatives to support Ukraine. Notably, they announced an increase in military aid.

Possibly stung by criticism from other European States as well as the USA, the Norwegian Parliament voted unanimously on March 6 to increase aid to Ukraine

OSLO (Reuters) - The Norwegian government will soon ask that parliament increases its financial backing for Ukraine, Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told public broadcaster NRK on Saturday. "I can say today that we will go back to parliament in the near future with a proposal to increase the support," Stoere told NRK.

The value of Norway’s war windfall is almost equivalent to all US military and civilian support for Ukraine to date. As the US position on European security becomes increasingly ambiguous, Norway should deploy its windfall to the benefit of the European citizens from whom it came, by allocating it in full to Ukraine’s defence and reconstruction.