Sweden said it will cut assistance to four African nations and Bolivia starting next year
Sweden will discontinue aid to Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Liberia and Bolivia, and redirect the funds to Ukraine, Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa has announced.
During a press conference on Friday, Dousa said that assistance worth approximately 2 billion kronor ($212 million) will be cut starting August 31, 2026.
The minister said that while the “financial pressure is enormous… it is our duty and obligation to support Ukraine.”
“There isn’t a secret printing press for banknotes for aid purposes and the money has to come from somewhere,” he added.
According to Dousa, the Swedish embassies in Bolivia, Liberia and Zimbabwe, whose main focus is providing aid, will also be closed.
Commenting on Stockholm’s decision, Cecilia Chatterjee-Martinsen, international director of Save the Children Sweden, warned of potentially “catastrophic consequences for the poorest people in the world.”
Last month, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte revealed that several member states, including Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, would jointly provide a €430 million ($500 million) military package for Ukraine.
The money will be spent on purchasing US-made weapons through the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List program.
On Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed two ways to finance Ukraine: EU-level borrowing through Eurobonds or a ‘reparations loan’ backed by frozen Russian assets, which Moscow has called theft.
Several days later, Politico reported that Hungary had blocked the issuance of Eurobonds to arm Ukraine – a move that would have required the unanimous consent of all EU member states.
The move comes as Kiev continues to reel from a large corruption scandal implicating people from Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s inner circle. The alleged $100 million kickback scheme led to the resignation of two government ministers, and further anti-corruption probes prompted the firing of Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak.
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