What is the problem?
Russia’s full-scale war has shaken every part of life in Ukraine, taking precious lives, destroying peaceful cities, and leaving deep scars on the economy, society, and environment. What’s more, Russia and its actions are making everyday problems even harder and leaving Ukrainians more exposed and at risk.
While so many Ukrainians took up arms to defend their country, and Ukrainian civil society is promptly responding to challenges created by this war, Ukraine’s defense and recovery wouldn’t have been possible without the support and investment from partners. One such valuable ally is Norway.
What’s the solution?
Over the past three years, Norway has been a trusted and appreciated partner, providing almost €5 billion worth of diverse support for Ukraine. Thanks to this aid, Ukraine’s air defenses are stronger, backed by NASAMS, F-16 jets, and trained crews to fly them, and soldiers are more capable of repelling Russian aggression thanks to training, artillery, ammunition, and missiles donated.
Norway support to Ukraine: Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and President Volodymyr Zelensky met in Kyiv, Ukraine, on August 24, 2023. Photo: AFP
While helping Ukraine’s army, Norway has sponsored projects and programs for affected civilians — refugees, displaced people, and vulnerable children — supporting healthcare, psychosocial aid, mine clearance, housing, and education. It has also promoted Ukraine’s energy and food security, green recovery, and a more resilient civil society and media.
On top of that, Norway has made its contribution to bringing Russia to justice. It has funded efforts to document and prosecute Russian war crimes with the International Criminal Court and the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, making it a model ally.
“Your decisions and actions are not just timely and significant, they set an example for others, an example of leadership,” stated President Zelensky during his visit to Oslo. “When it’s not just a few caring people, but a whole society that cares, and when it’s not just individual strong personalities pushing the need to help defend against genocidal aggression, but when a strong character of the entire nation is felt. Norway truly stands for freedom.”
Rubryka will discuss just a few of the many initiatives Norway and its people and organizations are running to shoulder the burden and stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
The Norwegian leadership took a structured and comprehensive approach to best supporting Ukraine, its army, and its people. In 2023, Norway launched the Nansen Support Programme for Ukraine, a long-term initiative encompassing military and civilian aid.
Norway support to Ukraine: Norway has supported 72 civilian projects through the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. Photo: Screenshot of the Norwegian aid statistic map by Norad
The program has allocated over €17.5 billion to help Ukraine resist Russian aggression while it lasts, rebuild what was destroyed greener and better, and make sure that those hit hardest by the war aren’t left vulnerable to new challenges and threats.
“Every day for the past three years, the Ukrainian people have been fighting for their freedom,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. “In order to maintain Ukrainian resilience, it is critical for Norway and other countries to continue and increase their support. This applies to both military and civilian support.”
Norway support to Ukraine: The government of Norway supports the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in rebuilding Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Photo: Serhii Perepelytsia / UNDP Ukraine
The Nansen Support Programme has been an effective response tool for Norway to support Ukraine. The funding from this initiative is sent to trusted, profile partner organizations that have the infrastructure and connections at hand to respond to problems facing Ukraine quickly.
These include the UNDP’s Green Energy Recovery Programme, which, with Norway’s support, is helping rebuild damaged energy infrastructure; UNICEF, which receives funding from Norway to support Ukrainian children and families in areas affected by war; the World Bank’s Ukraine Relief, Recovery, Reconstruction and Reform Fund (URTF), which rebuilds destroyed housing; and many more.
A group of Norwegian professors and universities, impressed by Ukrainian scientists and scholars working amid the full-scale war, decided to make a difference in Ukraine by supporting its academic and scientific world. In 2024, they came up with UKRAINETT+, an international project and network for researchers, scholars, and educational institutions in Ukraine and Norway.
Norway support to Ukraine: Norwegian universities launched the Norwegian Network for Research for Ukraine: UKRAINETT, in 2022. Photo: Embassy of Ukraine in Norway
The project naturally evolved from the Norwegian Network for Research for Ukraine: UKRAINETT, backed by OsloMet University, University of Bergen, Nord University, and University of Oslo, which developed Ukrainian studies in Norway and supported Ukrainian scholars who found themselves in Norway because of the war.
Now, it is also designed to support scholars and researchers working in Ukraine and connect them to their peers in Norway. It also pushes for more research about Ukraine, its society, politics, and culture, so that findings could be used to educate Norwegian society about Ukraine and support its recovery.
“We took the initiative to call on Norway to support Ukrainian universities and research institutions both during and after the war, because higher education and science are key to Ukraine’s future development,” said Professor Aadne Aasland from the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research at OsloMet and the project’s leader. “At first, we worked mostly as volunteers. But earlier this year, we received funding from the Research Council of Norway for a three-year project, UKRAINETT+, which will run until the end of 2026.”
Norway support to Ukraine: Nord University hosted the first UKRAINETT+ Conference on September 16-17, 2024. Photo: Anastasiia Drobot
As part of research cooperation, 16 Ukrainian institutions and 100+ Norwegian researchers interested in Ukrainian studies joined the UKRAINETT+ network. Now, it supports many new research projects that study topics like the civic roles of museums in Ukraine, national values and political reforms, and more.
The UKRAINETT+ network already hosted a conference in Oslo in September 2024, connecting researchers from Ukraine and Norway to discuss societal crises. It plans to hold one annually, so Bergen will host the second conference dedicated to Ukrainian culture and society this year.
The Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC), a nonprofit organization based in Oslo, has protected human rights worldwide since 1977. Its activists document and alert the public about human rights abuses, such as war crimes, rigged elections, and discrimination. They also lead human rights and democracy education for activists and support civil society and human rights organizations in Europe and Asia.
Ukraine has been one of the focuses for the Norwegian Helsinki Committee for many years of the Ukrainian people’s determined fight for their democracy. The organization has monitored Ukrainian elections, supported local human rights organizations, such as Insight and Ukrainian Women’s Fund, and responded to the challenges of war.
Norway support to Ukraine: Truth Hounds activists are working on the war crime site in Ukraine. Photo: Truth Hounds
For the past ten years of Russia’s war on Ukrainian soil, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee has supported the documentation of war crimes. Its team and the Center for International Law Research and Policy developed the I-DOC investigation documentation system.
The Truth Hounds, a Ukrainian organization and 2023 Sakharov Freedom Award recipient, and, since 2022, other activist groups have used it to document Russian war crimes, collect evidence and testimonies, and build cases for criminal investigations. The NHC also involved Norwegian lawyers in Ukrainian cases.
Norway support to Ukraine: An international coalition of countries, the Core Group, officially endorsed a special tribunal to prosecute the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine by signing a statement in Lviv, Ukraine, on May 9, 2025. Photo: Reuters
Since 2022, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee has advocated for the special tribunal to prosecute Russian war criminals. This year, Norway joined the group of 37 countries that established the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.
Norway, a country that has always cared about the environment and promoted sustainability, has supported Ukraine’s transition to greener practices since 2019. Then, by signing a cooperation agreement with Ukraine, Norway launched the Norway–Ukraine Energy Efficiency Initiative.
Through its partners at the NEFCO Nordic Green Bank, Norway could provide funding and expert support to small Ukrainian communities and make them more energy-efficient and transparent in their handling of green projects.
Norway support to Ukraine: The Kaniv school was renovated through the Norway–Ukraine Energy Efficiency Initiative in 2021. Photo: NEFCO
Through Norway-supported renovation projects, Ukrainian towns could reduce electricity consumption, fossil fuel emissions, and energy costs in schools, daycare centers, hospitals, and other public buildings. With experts, they also learned how to attract outside funding and invest that money to improve the lives of their communities. For instance, thanks to the initiative, the city of Kaniv, Cherkasy region, now saves €106,000 annually after the green renovation of its schools.
Norway support to Ukraine: A healthcare center in Krasyliv, Kmelnytskyi region, Ukraine, will undergo energy-efficiency renovations funded by Norway. Photo: Krasyliv City Council
Since the full-scale invasion, Norway has focused on the green reconstruction of Ukraine, joining forces with Sweden, Denmark, and Finland for the Nefco Green Recovery Programme for Ukraine. Norway pledged €16 million to help Ukrainian communities rebuild in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way, provide housing or shelter for displaced people, and help local authorities learn how to plan long-term green recovery.
“Norwegian support for rebuilding activities, through partners such as Nefco, aims to help Ukraine protect its people, maintain essential and critical infrastructure services, and become more energy resilient and independent,” stated Åsmund Aukrust, Norway’s Minister of International Development.
Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), an independent nonprofit organization, has been active in Ukraine since 2022, supporting war-affected communities. They train civilians in first aid and help survivors of sexual violence, but their biggest impact comes from clearing landmines and making communities safe again.
Norway support to Ukraine: Norwegian People’s Aid experts train Ukrainian civilians to become deminers. Photo: Sean Sutton/NPA
After Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Norwegian People’s Aid deployed its humanitarian demining experts to support Ukrainian deminers, who have faced the insurmountable challenge. According to estimates, one-third of the Ukrainian territory is contaminated with landmines and other dangerous explosives left behind by war.
For the past three years, NPA, accredited by the Ukrainian government, has trained and equipped sappers, deminers, and dogs of the national rescue service and mine action center and helped clear northern and southern regions, most of which were littered with mines.
Oleksandr Yermoshin, a Ukrainian civilian, finished the NPA training program and became a deminer in his native Mykolaiv region. “I’m very motivated to do this job, because before the war I was a farmer,” he said. “I want to help clear the land so it can be used again for farming as soon as possible, which is crucial for Ukraine’s future.”
Norway support to Ukraine: Deminer Oleksandr surveys the minefield in Vavylove, Mykolaiv region. Photo: NPA
Thanks to their work, 770,839 square meters of Ukrainian land is clear of explosives, de-occupied communities are safer for displaced families to return home, and more farmland is clear of mines and ready for agriculture.
Norwegian People’s Aid reported that Ukraine is now using all the mine action tools at their disposal, including manual clearance, dogs, and demining machines, which makes humanitarian demining faster and more effective.
The material is produced by the NGO “Institute of Successful City” with the support of the Askold and Dir Fund as a part of the Strong Civil Society of Ukraine — a Driver towards Reforms and Democracy project, implemented by ISAR Ednannia, funded by Norway and Sweden. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the NGO “Institute of Successful City” and the solutions media “Rubryka” and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the Government of Norway, the Government of Sweden, and ISAR Ednannia.