Ukraine Russia Conflict: Norway to donate 100 mistral air defence missiles to Ukraine

Norway's defence ministry on Wednesday said that it will donate 100 mistral air defence missiles to Ukraine amid the war. The mistral air protection system is “an effective weapon that has been used in the maritime defence, and that will be of great benefit to Ukraine” defence minister Bjørn Arild Gram said. 

"The mistral system has been used on deminers and corvettes. It is a type of air defence that the armed forces has planned to replace. It will therefore not have a major impact on the national operational capability to donate the missiles" the ministry said. 

"The missile will be phased out by the Norwegian armed forces, but it is still a modern and effective weapon that will be of great benefit to Ukraine" it added. 

Russia launched a war on Ukraine on February 24. However, according to the latest updates, Russia has given Mariupol a fresh ultimatum to surrender for 2pm today. In a statement issued early on Wednesday morning, the Russian defence ministry said its forces opened a humanitarian corridor from the Azovstal plant “for the withdrawal of Ukrainian servicemen” to “voluntarily lay down their arms” as well as to evacuate civilians. A commander for the Ukrainian marines fighting in Mariupol said his forces were “maybe facing our last days, if not hours” and appealed for extraction in video message published to his Facebook account early on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said the intensity of fire by Russian troops towards Kharkiv, the Donbas and in Dnipro has “increased significantly”, one day after the Kremlin launched its long-anticipated offensive in eastern Ukraine.