Zelenskyy met with Norwegian Foreign Minister: What was discussed

Zelenskyy met with Norwegian Foreign Minister: What was discussed

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Barth Eide, who is on a working visit to Kyiv, on Monday, April 15th. They discussed preparations for the signing of a security agreement, defense cooperation, and strengthening Ukrainian air defense, according to the Telegram channel of the head of state.

According to Zelenskyy, the meeting was substantive and practical.

“Our teams have already completed the preparation of a bilateral security agreement. We discussed further defense cooperation. And most importantly – strengthening our air defense. Grateful to Norway for the support and understanding of Ukraine’s needs!”, – the President noted.

Air defense systems for Ukraine

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine has been working on strengthening its air defense. However, the need for anti-aircraft defense intensified after the resumption of Russian strikes on energy facilities.

Germany has promised to assist Ukraine in finding air defense systems. As Berlin stated, the German government will review its stocks and search worldwide for systems that could be sent to Ukraine. Today, Germany announced the transfer of an additional Patriot system to Ukraine.

However, Zelenskyy previously stated that to fully close Ukraine’s airspace from Russian drones and missiles, 25 Patriot systems are needed.

According to Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine has already found 100 available Patriot systems worldwide, but initially aims to acquire 7 of them.

In addition to Patriot, Ukraine prioritizes Samp-T systems, which are also capable of intercepting ballistic missiles. As of today, Ukraine is negotiating to obtain two Patriot batteries and one Samp-T battery.