In Kyiv, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with Prime Minister of Finland Petteri Orpo, during which they discussed strengthening defense, economic resilience, and winter support for our country.
The Head of State thanked Finland for its unwavering support for Ukraine, the new assistance package, and the high level of cooperation and coordination on security, defense, and diplomatic issues with both the Prime Minister and President of Finland Alexander Stubb. Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded Petteri Orpo the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, II class, for all the support provided to Ukraine.
“Today, we have a new support package for Ukraine from Finland, and we have agreements that expand our opportunities for cooperation. Seven documents were signed. And the total value of today's agreements is around €300 million,” the President noted.
According to the Prime Minister, the new package amounts to €10 million. Of this, Finland will contribute €5 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund and another €2 million for humanitarian assistance in preparation for winter. Mobile heating containers will be delivered by December. Another €3 million will go to the Ukraine Recovery Program, particularly in the critical energy and water supply sectors.
“As for defense, Finland will also continue providing Ukraine with substantial military-technical assistance and support for military training. This year, we supported Ukraine with five defense packages worth more than half a billion euros. And now we are preparing the 36th package in close cooperation with the Ukrainian military,” Petteri Orpo said.
The President thanked every Finnish company working in Ukraine and helping our country. The Drone Deal with Finland is already actively underway, with measures worth €200 million under this agreement. According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, this is a clear strengthening of Ukraine's and Finland's capabilities.
“It is important that even now, at such a time of war, we have the potential for economic cooperation. We discussed joint production both in Ukraine and in Finland, localization here in our country, and joint technological projects that could be very useful for Finland and Ukraine. We discussed how we can develop joint R&D initiatives as a separate area of cooperation under the Drone Deal,” the Head of State emphasized.
The meeting also covered joint work under the European SAFE program. Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Finland to help finance weapons production through this program.
“We agreed to make greater use of Finland's satellite capabilities. And this is important for our defense, for resilience, for Ukraine, for Europe. We reached an agreement on this today and discussed opportunities for such cooperation with Nokia and ICEYE,” the President said.
Special attention was paid to strengthening air defense, which remains Ukraine's constant priority in its work with all partners.
“I thank Finland for helping us in this area as well. We count on further positive steps and news regarding air defense in the near future,” the Head of State emphasized.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy separately highlighted Finland's leadership in the Shelter Coalition, within which they agreed to work to secure additional funding for shelter construction. Finland will also explore organizing an international meeting with other countries participating in the Coalition.
“There are already 16 members of the Coalition, and it will expand. We need meetings, we need appropriate formats to provide more funding for such important projects, unquestionably important ones. Of all countries in Europe, Finland has the greatest experience and the highest quality of shelter construction,” the President noted.
The Prime Minister said that he had visited a Ukrainian school and seen how children study in a shelter.
“It was very painful to see how the educational process at the school continued during a ballistic missile attack. At the same time, I was impressed by how the children continued learning and the teachers continued teaching. This convinces me that we must do more to help you build shelters,” he added.
