Sweden will provide new military aid worth 3 billion crowns ($287 million) to Ukraine, its biggest materiel package to date, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Wednesday, Reuters reported.
The new package includes an air defense system and ammunition from the stockpiles of Sweden’s armed forces, “much needed to defend Ukraine against a fierce onslaught of Russian missiles in recent weeks,” according to Pål Jonson, the defense minister of the country soon to become a NATO member.
“It’s a bigger military support package than all eight previous packages combined,” Kristersson told a news conference. “We follow exactly the Ukrainian priority list of what they themselves think they need just now.”
The package does not include the Archer artillery system, which has been high on the Ukrainian wish list for some time. However, Jonson did not rule it out for the future and said more support would be forthcoming.
Photo: “Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson looks on, as he visits soldiers from the Armed Forces of Ukraine who are taking part in the UK-led basic training program, on a military training camp, in an unspecified location in the North East of England, Britain, November 9, 2022. (Andy Commins/Pool via REUTERS)