President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has contacted Norway and a number of other countries to ask for support for his peace plan in Ukraine. Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt (Ap) says that Norway has offered to lead the work on nuclear safety.
The Ukrainian President first presented the plan at a meeting of the G20 group for the world’s largest economies in November.
Zelenskyj’s “Peace Formula” is intended to lead to a free and independent Ukraine, and assumes that Russia withdraws all its forces from the country. Now he is asking countries that support Ukraine to take leadership for each part of the plan.
– Zelenskyj’s peace plan is comprehensive and ambitious, and Norway is prepared to contribute. It remains to be seen how Ukraine will follow up the plan in practice and we will also have to discuss with them how we can best contribute, says Huitfeldt in an e-mail to VG.
– Norway has expressed a desire to contribute within nuclear safety and radiation protection. We have informed the Ukrainian embassy about that, she adds.
Talked to Stoltenberg
Zelenskyj’s peace plan consists of ten parts:
- Nuclear safety
- Food safety
- Energy security
- Release of all prisoners of war and all those who have been deported
- Liberation of the entire territory of Ukraine
- Total withdrawal of all Russian forces from the entire country
- Punishment for war crimes
- Protection of the environment
- New security guarantees for Ukraine
- Signing of a peace treaty
The Ukrainian president is now presenting his thoughts on the peace plan in talks with other leaders.
Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, tells VG that he discussed the peace plan with Zelenskyj when they spoke on the phone on Wednesday this week.
Planning summit
Ukraine is making plans for a possible summit in February.
A current date should be 24 February, which is the anniversary of Russia’s invasion. The authorities in the occupied country want to invite those governments that want to work with them on the peace plan.
Liilia Honcharevych is Ukraine’s acting ambassador to Norway. She confirms to VG that the embassy has invited the Norwegian government into a collaboration with on the peace plan:
– We hope Norway can join in and take the lead, the ambassador says in an e-mail to VG.
– We are grateful for the support from Norway. And we hope for more Norwegian support for Ukraine, and for increased pressure on Russia. This is the only way to force the Kremlin to stop the war. Any concession to Russia will encourage the occupier to take new steps, she writes further.
28 years of cooperation
As early as 1995, Norway established cooperation with Ukraine on nuclear safety.
– We are pleased that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs points to nuclear safety and radiation protection as a topic for increased efforts in Ukraine. For a long time, we have had close cooperation with the authorities and actors in Ukraine, and saw the need for strengthened aid and cooperation after the invasion. It is important that Norway and the international community contribute to reducing the risk of serious incidents at nuclear power plants and other installations, writes Per Strand, director of the Directorate for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety, in an email to VG.
After the invasion of Krym in 2014, cooperation saw an upswing and the Directorate for Radiation Protection has since then been in close contact with Ukraine’s radiation protection authorities, with those who operate Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, with the border control authorities and with the Chernobyl plant.
In April, the plan is for Ukrainian actors and the western countries that have programs and activities in Ukraine to meet in Oslo to discuss cooperation and coordinate the implementation of projects.
Contributed equipment
– The fact that Norway already had this cooperation in place meant that we had an apparatus and project managers in motion when the war broke out last winter. That meant we could be on the scene quickly and help the Ukrainians, says Foreign Minister Huitfeldt.
She states that Norway already contributed equipment for nuclear power plants and border control in March, at the request of Ukraine.
After that, Norway has continued to contribute equipment to maintain the maintenance program for operation at nuclear power plants where the infrastructure has been destroyed, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
