Ukraine, Norway discuss drone deal, efforts to strengthen air defense

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store on Sunday discussed strategic partnership, including a drone deal, efforts to strengthen air defense, and bilateral cooperation.

Zelensky said he met Store in Yerevan ahead of the 8th European Political Community summit scheduled for May 4.

"I thanked Norway for all its support for our country, in particular for its contributions to the PURL (Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List) initiative totaling nearly $1 billion," he wrote on US social media platform X.

"Russia is not stopping its ballistic missile strikes, so the timely funding of PURL is critically important," he added.

Zelensky said he informed Store of Kyiv's needs, particularly regarding natural gas, for the coming winter.

"Ukraine must enter it prepared. I am grateful to Norway and personally to Jonas for the readiness to help," he said.

Ukraine and Norway signed a defense deal in April. Zelensky had said they were working on a drone initiative to counter Shahed attacks.

Separately Zelensky offered Finland to strengthen bilateral partnership by signing an agreement in the "Drone Deal" format during his meeting with Prime Minister Petteri Orpo.

He said Ukraine is ready to share its expertise and strengthen "those who have been strengthening us" since the beginning of conflict with Russia.

"I thanked him for Finland's recent decision to allocate an additional $300 million in defense support for Ukraine. We sincerely appreciate this, and we discussed priority areas of our defense-particularly air defense-that can be strengthened with this package," Zelensky said on X.

On Tuesday, Zelensky announced that weapons exports "will become a reality" after key details were approved at the state level.

He said a new format of cooperation called "Drone Deals," covering the production and supply of drones, missiles, ammunition and other military equipment, as well as technology exchange and integration with partners' defense systems, is already underway with countries across the Middle East and Gulf region, Europe and the Caucasus.