Nordic countries can’t keep taking on a disproportionate share of supporting Ukraine, Sweden’s foreign minister warned in an interview with POLITICO.

“A few countries take almost all of the burden,” Maria Malmer Stenergård said on her way into a gathering of foreign ministers in Brussels. “That is not fair and it’s not sustainable in the long run.”

She added: “The fact that the Nordic countries, with less than 30 million people, we provide for one-third of the military support that the NATO countries, with almost 1 billion people, provide this year … This is not sustainable. It’s not reasonable in any way. And it says a lot about what the Nordics do — but it says even more about what the others don’t do.”

Stenergård’s unusually frank comments frame a reality that is rarely publicly acknowledged by EU diplomats: That despite impassioned speeches by leaders across the bloc, advocating support for Ukraine, financial and military contributions remain deeply uneven from one country to another.

Denmark, for example, has contributed over €10 billion to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, equal to nearly 3 percent of its gross domestic product. Spain, on the other hand, has given €1.48 billion, or less than 0.2 percent of its GDP, according to the Kiel Institute, a think tank that tracks contributions.

Overall, Nordic and Baltic countries contribute the most in GDP terms to Kyiv, with the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland and France all providing substantial aid, though a smaller percentage of their economic output.

Hungary is at the lower extreme with less than 0.04 percent of GDP in aid.

Stenergård called out those leaders who strike pro-Ukraine positions in speeches but fail to back up their rhetoric with cash: “If you choose to go to your constituency and give all these kinds of speeches saying that Ukraine is not only for their freedom, but also for ours, then you also have to help the nation,” she said.

Ukraine faces a stark budget shortfall starting next year. Stenergård said it is imperative that EU leaders reach a deal on how to keep supporting Kyiv when they next meet in Brussels in December.

“We have no other choice,” she said. “So I am counting on the member states and the [European] Commission to do what it takes to actually get there.

The Commission circulated a letter this week outlining three options for supporting Ukraine: Two involve EU countries contributing more to the war-torn country, while the third calls for the tapping of some €170 billion in Russian assets that remain frozen in Belgium.

The third is the only credible option, per the Swedish minister.

“When it comes to continuing the way we do it now, I mean a few countries taking almost all of the burden, that is not fair and it’s not sustainable in the long run,” she said.

Belgium has so far refused to allow the EU to tap Russia’s frozen assets, which are kept at the Brussels-based Euroclear depository.

Stenergård said that Belgium “cannot be alone” in shouldering the risks of using the assets, adding that Sweden was “absolutely open” to seeking financial guarantees for the country.

Such guarantees could come either from “headroom” in the EU budget or via bilateral contributions, she added.

But the bottom line had to be “even and fair burden-sharing in this,” she said.

The minister also noted that the EU has spent more money importing Russian energy products since the start of the war than it has on helping Ukraine.

“It also says something about the urgency in this decision, because if we would be able to make this decision [on seizing the assets], we would at least be, you know, on the plus side.”

Finally, the minister brushed off reports that the United States and Russia have reached a ceasefire deal that they plan to impose on Ukraine as “rumors.”

“As soon as there comes a rumor about any kind of negotiation going on … then people stop focusing. So far this has taken us nowhere.”

“So I try to see it as my assignment to make sure that countries continue to focus on putting more pressure on Russia and increasing support for Ukraine, because that can actually increase the possibility of a ceasefire,” she said.

She also urged her contemporaries to bolster action against the “shadow fleet” that Russia uses to skirt sanctions, and to hit companies harder. “I would want to see 100 sanctions packages,” she said.