Sweden will donate 16 billion kronor (€1.48 billion) in fresh military aid to Ukraine, the government said on Monday, March 31st—the largest such package from the Nordic country since Russia’s 2022 invasion, AFP reported.
The majority of the aid package would go towards the acquisition of newly produced materials, “mainly from the Swedish, but also the European defence industrial base.”
Exactly what is to be purchased will only be announced when contracts are signed. But, according to daily Dagans Nyheter, the money could go to acquiring artillery ammunition, air defence systems, drones, naval equipment, infantry equipment, and satellite communication.
The latest package is the 19th tranche of military aid that Sweden has provided to Ukraine, with the total estimated at 80 billion kronor (€7.4 billion).
Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson told reporters that Sweden wanted to support Ukraine “as much as possible so that they can come into a position of strength during these negotiations.” He stressed that the war was in a “critical stage.”
The Donald Trump-led U.S. administration is trying to bring about a ceasefire in Ukraine with intense negotiations involving Moscow and Kyiv.
The European Union has been sidelined in the negotiations, given the fact that it has not attempted to achieve peace in the past three years, and has completely shut down communication channels with Russia.
There is evidently no EU strategy on how to proceed. There is no unanimity on the Anglo-French initiative to send a European ‘peacekeeping force’ to Ukraine, and a recent proposal to allocate a €40 billion military aid package for Ukraine was dismissed due to the economic concerns of many member states.
Many of them want to see how ceasefire negotiations proceed before committing any more money to the war.
