Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide was in the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Kharkiv early this week when Russian forces resumed their relentless bombing in the dead of winter. Eide had to seek refuge in his hotel’s cellar, shortly after delivering a new emergency aid package to Ukraine worth around NOK 4 billion (USD 400 million).
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (right) was in Ukraine this week to personally deliver an extra NOK 4 billion in emergency financial aid to the war-torn country. He’s shown here with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrij Sybiha on Monday visiting a memorial to Ukrainian soldiers before they all had to head for bomb shelters later that night. PHOTO: Oleksandr Techynskyi
“We both heard explosions and spent parts of the night in the bomb shelter in the cellar,” Eide told Norwegian Broadasting (NRK) on Tuesday morning. “There are constant attacks from Russia, we had to always be on guard.”
Monday night’s bombing left at least four people dead in Kharkiv and caused more damage to both civilian targets and important infrastructure that has left wide areas of the country without electricity and heating at a time when temperatures are well below freezing.
“It’s a biting minus-16 degrees in Kyiv today,” Eide had reported earlier on Monday in a press release from the Norwegian foreign ministry. “We can only imagine how cold it can get when the power is out for hours at a time. We’re trying to help keep the Ukrainians warm with money they need right now.”
Eide had traveled once again to Ukraine for a new meeting with its embattled president Volodymyr Zelensky. The two discussed what Eide called “the acute situation” in the entire world, while adding that “for us, what’s happening in Ukraine is the most dramatic.” Eide also noted the historic ties between Norway and Ukraine (external link to the Norwegian foreign ministry’s site) that stretch back to the Viking period.
He said Zelensky once again expressed deep gratitude for the immediate financial aid from Norway to help restore its energy systems, help pay for gas imports and help finance state operations. Eide remains firm that the aid is important to Norway and the rest of Europe as well.
“This war is also critical for our future,” said Eide, who was wearing a Ukrainian-Norwegian friendship pin that features both countries’ flags during his live interview with NRK on Tuesday after an eventful night with little sleep. Alarms had sounded Monday evening after Zelensky himself had warned that Russia was preparing major new attacks while the weather is especially cold. “It’s a war Ukraine is fighting on behalf of us all,” Eide said.
‘Head for a safe place’
Eide was later advised, as were all residents of Kyiv, to “head for a safe place” in an announcement from the leader of Kyiv’s military administration Tuymur Tkatsjenko. Then Kyiv Mayor Vitalij Klitsjko announced that the city’s own missile defense systems were trying to fight back. The Russians nonetheless managed to cause extensive damage to another local heating plant.
Eide and his Ukrainian counterpart, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, had earlier in the day visited a memorial for Ukrainian soldiers as well as holding meetings indoors. The two were later photographed in the cellar standing next to a supply of drinking water bottles and with Sybiha still wearing a warm coat.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund