Iceland reaffirms firm support for Ukraine to parliament speaker

Icelandic Foreign Minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir reaffirmed Iceland’s firm support for Ukraine during a meeting with Ruslan Stefanchuk, speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, mbl.is reported.

Stefanchuk arrived in Iceland on Tuesday to attend a meeting of speakers of the Nordic and Baltic parliaments. Gunnarsdóttir said Iceland had stood firmly behind the Ukrainian people in their defence against Russia’s war of conquest and would continue to do so.

“It was very welcome to receive the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament to once again reaffirm Iceland’s steadfast support for Ukraine and hear first-hand how we can further meet the needs of the Ukrainian people,” she said, according to the Icelandic government’s website.

Gunnarsdóttir said the Nordic and Baltic countries were united in their continued strong support for Ukraine. She said this had been reaffirmed at a summit with Ukraine’s president the previous weekend.

During the meeting, Stefanchuk expressed the Ukrainian people’s gratitude to Iceland. He said continued support for defence equipment, humanitarian aid and economic assistance was highly important.

He also said Ukraine faced difficult winter months because of escalating Russian airstrikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure.