OSLO, NORWAY – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday urged allies in Europe and the United States to continue supporting Kiev as disputes in Brussels and Washington hold up new aid packages.

The Ukrainian leader also took part in talks with the leaders of the five Nordic countries in Oslo on the eve of an important EU meeting in Brussels.

“You can’t win without help,” Zelenskyy told reporters after talks with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store on Wednesday.

Internal disagreements in both the United States and the European Union are holding up aid packages for Ukraine worth billions of dollars.

Since the counteroffensive launched by Ukraine in July did not produce the expected results, Zelensky is trying to shore up support.

In particular, Zelensky is counting on Nordic countries to help finance Ukraine’s production of NATO-compatible weapons.

After meeting them, he said: “What Europe can do is the same as what the Nordic countries are doing.”

NORDIC SUPPORT
Since the war began in February 2022, the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) say they have donated around 11 billion euros in aid to Ukraine.

In an editorial published in the Financial Times on Wednesday, the five leaders said: “Now is not the time to grow weary.”

Norway announced a 6.8 billion euro ($7.3 billion) civil and military aid package for Ukraine over 2023-2027 earlier this year.

On Wednesday, Oslo announced that it would donate just over 250 million euros to Ukraine as part of this package, as well as new, urgently needed anti-aircraft weapons. Ukraine faces heavy Russian bombing.

More than 50 people were injured in a Russian missile attack on Kiev.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said her government would propose a new military aid package for Ukraine worth almost 1 billion euros on Thursday.

IMPORTANT EU TALKS
Meeting in Brussels starting Thursday, European leaders will discuss starting EU accession talks with Ukraine and a push to give Kiev 50 billion euros ($54 billion) in aid over the next four years.

But they are encountering resistance from Hungary, Russia’s closest ally in the Union.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Wednesday that opening EU accession talks with Kiev was a “terrible mistake.”

“I am willing to make financial deals on financial issues, but I am not willing to make strategic or political deals on financial issues,” he said. He did not specify whether he was referring to aid to Ukraine.

Zelensky said Orban had “no reason” to prevent Kiev from joining the EU.

“I asked him to give me a reason why. Not three, not five, not ten. Give me one reason,” Zelensky told reporters in Oslo about his talks with Orban.

“I am waiting for an answer.”

The Ukrainian president arrived in Oslo early Wednesday after a visit to the United States, where he made a last-minute appeal for more military aid.

A divided Congress has yet to agree to a new $60 billion relief package.

US President Joe Biden said he had approved an additional $200 million in US military aid to tide Ukraine over the coming weeks.

But without a deal in Congress, funding could dry up by the end of the year, the White House warned.

US Republicans insist that renewing Ukraine aid depends on Democrats agreeing to measures on US-Mexico border security and immigration reform.

Moscow, meanwhile, has claimed new progress on the battlefield, predicting on Tuesday that any new aid to Kiev would be a “fiasco.”