The Icelandic government has recently allocated more than EUR 2 million to support the production of Ukrainian weapons.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced this.

Thus, the country has joined the “Danish model” of supporting Ukraine’s defense capabilities.

On Tuesday, January 7, Icelandic Foreign Minister Thorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir arrived in Kyiv. During a meeting with her, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha thanked her for supporting Ukrainian companies’ production.

“We are grateful to Iceland for its recent contribution of over EUR 2 million to the production of Ukrainian weapons based on the Danish model. We look forward to further increase of investments in the Ukrainian defense industry by the Icelandic side,” the Minister noted.

Andrii Sybiha also expressed his gratitude to Iceland for its assistance in demining, logistics, training the Ukrainian military, and support for the initiative to rapidly purchase weapons for the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

The Minister also emphasized Iceland’s efforts to provide prosthetics for wounded Ukrainian soldiers: “This year, we want to scale up this project and help the recovery of even more of our servicemen.”

At the end of October last year, Ukraine’s Minister of Strategic Industries Herman Smetanin noted that all Nordic countries had confirmed their readiness to finance the purchase of weapons from Ukrainian manufacturers.

In particular, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland confirmed their readiness at that time. The Minister then noted that the financing would be based on the “Danish model.”

Financing of weapons procurement

In 2024, Denmark initially proposed the idea of financing the procurement of weapons from Ukrainian manufacturers. Already in September, the Armed Forces of Ukraine received 18 Bohdana artillery systems, which the Danish government paid for.

Denmark’s order of Ukrainian-made heavy weapons for the Ukrainian Defense Forces was the first such precedent. It was part of an official agreement on defense cooperation signed between the two countries last June.

Later, other countries started to join this model of supporting Ukraine’s defense capabilities through orders from the Ukrainian defense industry. In particular, Sweden will finance the production of Ukrainian long-range drones.