What did allied aid pledges signal before 24 February 2024?
A look back at two Nordic announcements of military aid to Ukraine in the days before the war's second anniversary.
What did Ukraine's partners put on the table as 24 February 2024 approached? Two Nordic announcements, made in the days before that date, offer a snapshot.
On 18 February 2024, Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen announced that her country would donate all of its artillery shells to Ukraine. The pledge was framed in terms of the whole of Denmark's stock of that ammunition, not a portion of it.
Two days later, on 20 February 2024, Sweden donated its largest military aid package to Ukraine to date, a further $680 million in aid.
Taken together, the two announcements show military support continuing from smaller European states during the run-up to 24 February 2024. Denmark's pledge concerned artillery shells, while Sweden's was a financial package that exceeded any of its earlier donations.
For a Ukrainian public and government watching the anniversary approach, the announcements were concrete commitments rather than general statements of solidarity. What they delivered in practice is a matter for the later record; on 24 February 2024 itself, they stood as the most recent pledges from Copenhagen and Stockholm.
