Ukraine: – Absolutely crucial

– It is very positive.

This is what Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram tells Dagbladet after the Senate in the US Congress last night on Wednesday finally adopted a new support package for Ukraine. This means that the US can now send more weapons to the country with immediate effect.

– I myself was in the USA last week with meetings in Congress, and with the Pentagon with the Minister of Defence, and then it looked like it might unravel. And now we have reached the point where the president can sign. That’s very good.

– What does this support mean for Ukraine and the situation on the ground there?

– The USA is an invaluable supporter of Ukraine, and it is absolutely crucial for their defense that the USA stands up in this way, says Gram and elaborates:

– Ukraine has been in a situation where a lot of material has been missing: Ammunition, air defense and so on. The US is such a big contributor and has such large stocks to take off that they can deliver quickly. It is a formidable support package that has now been adopted, and it means that Ukraine stands stronger in the defense battle.

– Will expand support

Even if the US finally contributes more money and weapons to Ukraine, there will be no rest for Norway, says the defense minister.

– We contribute through the Nansen programme. It is a comprehensive and multi-year programme. The Prime Minister has announced that we will see if we can contribute further with air defense in addition to what we have already provided.

The Nansen programme, which is Norway’s support scheme for Ukraine, has a framework of NOK 75 billion. At the weekend, Støre announced that the government will contribute more to Ukraine.

– We invite dialogue with the parties in the Storting to develop the Nansen programme. This will now be discussed with the parties.

– You want more money into the Nansen programme?

– We want to extend support to Ukraine, but in what way it should happen and how it should be designed, we must come back to that.

Concerned about personnel

In the Storting’s question time on Wednesday, Gram received critical questions from several parties about the large personnel shortage in the Armed Forces. He believes they have good answers on how to increase the number of men and women who will defend the country.

– There are extensive measures to get more people into the Armed Forces. Firstly, we are going to admit more conscripts into initial service. We will also have more reservists, and in addition have more employees.

– To secure more employees, we have to implement many measures: We have to train more people, and we have to become better at keeping people and bringing them back. We must have better living conditions, a better balance between work and family life, and have salary and incentive schemes that suit the challenges the sector faces.