How Russia’s Invasion Is Pulling Ukraine Northward |
A Swedish Saab JAS 39 Gripen appears in Poznan, Poland, on June 23, 2019. Sweden’s recent gift of 16 Gripen fighters to Ukraine underscores Scandinavia’s growing defense ties with Kyiv. (Shutterstock/Radoslaw Maciejewski)
How Russia’s Invasion Is Pulling Ukraine Northward
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The nations of Scandinavia have proved to be some of Ukraine’s most steadfast supporters in Europe.
Sweden’s decision to send 16 Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine is more than another weapons transfer. It is the latest sign of a deeper shift that has emerged during Russia’s full-scale invasion: Ukraine’s growing alignment with the Nordic countries.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s former foreign minister, recently posed the question directly. “Is Ukraine becoming a Nordic country?” he wrote following reports of the Gripen deal.
Not geographically, Kuleba argued, but strategically. For decades, Ukrainians viewed their place in Europe largely through the lens of Central and Eastern Europe. Since 2022, however, Ukraine’s political and military center of gravity has increasingly shifted northward toward countries that have become some of Kyiv’s strongest and most consistent supporters.
Kuleba points to three reasons for this shift: Northern Europe’s leadership in supporting Ukraine, growing friction with some partners in Central Europe, and Ukraine’s search for reliable strategic anchors in Europe. The result has been what he describes as a renaissance in Ukraine’s relations with Northern Europe.
The military dimension of that relationship continues to grow. If delivered by early 2027, Sweden’s Gripens could provide Ukraine with a powerful new tool against Russian glide-bomb attacks, particularly if accompanied by Meteor long-range air-to-air missiles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Gripen fighters equipped with Meteor missiles, which have a range of more than 200 kilometers (124 miles), could help push Russian aircraft far enough back to curb Moscow’s mass use of guided bombs against Ukrainian forces.
But the growing Nordic-Ukrainian partnership runs deeper than military assistance. “The Nordic countries’ commitment to Ukraine transcends a national security interest due to geographic proximity; it has evolved into a shared mission,” Maria Popova, an associate professor of political science at McGill University, said in an interview with the author.
“In resisting Russia’s invasion, Ukrainians have rejected the Russian governance model........