Sweden to join NATO arms supply to Ukraine, while Finland has not yet decided

Sweden will contribute to efforts to increase arms supplies to Ukraine after US President Donald Trump's decision to sell weapons through NATO, while Finland has not yet decided whether to participate in the initiative. Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson and Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo made the following statements.

Jonson, in a commentary to Reuters, welcomed "America's decision to make it possible to strengthen sanctions against Russia and pave the way for the delivery of Patriot and other weapons systems to Ukraine".

"Sweden will join these efforts," he assured, without disclosing details.

At the same time, Orpo said in an interview with the Finnish broadcaster Yle that US assistance is welcome, but no decisions have been made on Finland's participation in or payment for the provision of weapons.

"Without US military assistance, support for Ukraine is insufficient. The question of whether NATO allies will pay for the military aid announced by Trump needs to be clarified. We will evaluate each decision separately when we get more detailed information about what is meant," added the Finnish Prime Minister.

Talks about scaling up support for Ukraine and cooperation with it are ongoing, and, according to Orpo, much of this has already been done. Trump's proposal is something new, he said.

• On July 14, Trump said that NATO and the United States had signed an agreement to supply weapons to Ukraine at European expense. The US president clarified that the US would not pay for these weapons, but would only produce them.
• He said that Ukraine could receive up to 17 Patriot systems as part of the agreement to supply weapons to Ukraine through NATO.