Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on May 31 signed security and cooperation agreements with Sweden, Norway, and Iceland as he attended the third Ukraine-Northern Europe Summit in Stockholm.
The deals were signed as Russian strikes and shelling continued to wreak havoc in Ukraine’s cities, killing civilians and damaging infrastructure.
“Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson and I signed a security cooperation and long-term support agreement between Ukraine and Iceland,” Zelenskiy wrote on X, formerly Twitter, adding that the Nordic country also pledged at least 30 million euros ($32.6 million) in financial support for Ukraine until 2028.
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“Iceland pledged to provide Ukraine with long-term economic, humanitarian, and defense assistance, as well as to facilitate its future EU and NATO membership,” Zelenskiy added.
Earlier, Zelenskiy signed a similar agreement with Norway, with the NATO member pledging more than $1 billion in military assistance to Ukraine.
“This year, Norway will provide almost 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in military aid to Ukraine. Together with allies, will help us develop capabilities in the field of modern combat aircraft and already records a clear readiness to transfer F-16 fighter jets,” Zelenskiy said on X.
Sweden, the third Nordic country that Zelenskiy inked a security agreement with on May 31, has already announced a substantial military aid package for Kyiv.
The package of 13.3 billion Swedish crowns ($1.3 billion) announced by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on May 29 was the 16th since the start of Russia’s invasion and includes two Swedish-made SAAB ASCC airborne early-warning-and-control aircraft.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told RFE/RL in Prague, where he was attending an informal meeting of his NATO-member colleagues, that the ASCC aircraft “add significantly” to Ukraine’s ability to defend itself.
“An airborne radar is a capacity which Ukraine has lacked and now we, Sweden, will provide this,” he added.
Zelenskiy’s trip came as Russia struck Kyiv with an Iskander missile and several drones early on May 31, sparking a fire in a nonresidential building in the Ukrainian capital’s Holosyivskiy district, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, Serhiy Popko, said on Telegram.
Popko said there were no casualties. He added that all incoming drones were shot down by the capital’s air defenses.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, the death toll of an overnight missile strike on a five-story apartment block has risen to five, regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on May 31, adding that 25 people were wounded in the attack.
Russia has stepped up attacks on Kharkiv, located just 35 kilometers from the border, as part of an attempted Russian offensive in the region that President Vladimir Putin claimed is meant to establish a “buffer zone” to prevent Ukrainian strikes inside Russia’s territory.
Meanwhile, a drone attack early on May 31 on an oil depot in Russia’s Krasnodar region damaged three tankers filled with fuel, causing a fire, and injured two people, regional officials said.
Deadly Overnight Russian Missile Attack Targets Kharkiv
The death toll from an overnight Russian missile strike on an apartment block in Kharkiv has risen to five, Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on May 31. Meanwhile, the U.S. has given Kyiv the go-ahead to use its weapons to strike inside Russia for the purpose of defending the city from Russian attacks.
Governor Veniamin Kondratyev wrote on Telegram that the fire at the oil depot in the region’s Temryuk district had been extinguished, while the head of the district said two people were injured by debris after Ukrainian drones were shot down.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces on May 31 also shot down Ukrainian drones over the Voronezh, Belgorod and Tambov regions.
Ukraine has not commented.
In the cities of Kazan and Nizhnekamsk in Russia’s Tatarstan region, the local airports were shut down for two hours because of unspecified security threats.
Videos on social media early on May 31 purportedly showed drones flying over the region.