The Norwegian government has proposed tightening the conditions for obtaining citizenship by changing the requirements regarding length of residence in the country and knowledge of the Norwegian language for certain categories of applicants.
Under the government’s initiative, applicants will be required to have lived in the country continuously for eight years to obtain a Norwegian passport. Currently, most applicants must have resided in Norway for a total of eight years over the past 11 years, provided they hold a permanent residence permit. The new model is intended to simplify the calculation of residency periods and reduce the number of different requirements for specific groups of applicants.
Norway’s Minister of Labor and Social Integration, Kjersti Stenseng, stated that obtaining citizenship should be viewed as a privilege, and that the current rules are too complex, particularly regarding residency requirements.
Separately, the government proposes to increase the residency requirement for stateless persons from three to seven years. For applicants in this category who were born in Norway or arrived in the country before the age of 18, the plan is to set a residency requirement of five years.
The changes will also affect foreigners who are married to, in a registered partnership with, or in a de facto relationship with a Norwegian citizen. For them, the period required to obtain citizenship is proposed to be increased from a minimum of five years of residence and marriage to six years of continuous residence in the country.
In addition, the government wants to raise the Norwegian language proficiency requirements for stateless persons aged 18 to 67—from level A2 to B1. Residence on the Svalbard archipelago will no longer be considered grounds for applying for Norwegian citizenship.
The government explains the changes as necessary to make the rules more consistent and understandable, as well as to speed up the processing of applications. At the same time, the stricter requirements effectively make the path to a Norwegian passport longer for a number of categories of foreign nationals.
In total, as of early 2026, there were 987,120 immigrants in Norway, accounting for 17.5% of the country’s population. Another 238,507 people were born in Norway to immigrant families, accounting for 4.2% of the population. Collectively, people of immigrant origin make up more than one-fifth of the country’s population.
The largest group of immigrants in Norway remains those from Poland—111,740 thousand people. Next are Ukraine—85,461 thousand, Lithuania—43,065 thousand, Syria—42,040 thousand, Sweden—37,732 thousand, Germany—28,145 thousand, Somalia—27,769 thousand, Eritrea—25,819 thousand, the Philippines—25,673 thousand, and Pakistan—24,821 thousand people.
The structure of immigration to Norway reflects a combination of several waves: labor migration from EU countries and Eastern Europe, refugee migration from Syria, Somalia, Eritrea, and Ukraine, as well as long-standing diaspora communities from Pakistan, Iraq, Turkey, and other countries. Ukrainian migration is characterized by rapid growth over a short period and a high proportion of women and children among those who arrived after 2022.
Norway remains one of the countries with the most powerful passports in the world. According to the Henley Passport Index, the Norwegian passport is among the most prestigious and grants visa-free or simplified entry to over 180 countries. Since 2020, Norway has allowed dual citizenship.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has authorized that, for the duration of martial law and for 12 months following its end, timber harvested during sanitary logging be counted toward timber harvesting limits for main-use logging in mature and overmature stands in all forests, except for mountain forests in the Carpathian region, the press service of the Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture reported on Thursday.
“The adopted resolution will allow for more efficient use of forest resources under martial law and ensure additional volumes of timber to meet the needs of the economy, communities, and the defense sector. The document strengthens requirements for forest management, biodiversity conservation, and forest restoration. ‘We are establishing clear rules for forest users while ensuring a balance between the state’s economic needs and environmental responsibility,’ the press service quoted Taras Vysotsky, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture, as saying.
According to the statement, this decision will allow forest users to further meet the timber needs of the economy, the population, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, while enabling state-owned forestry enterprises to increase the supply of marketable timber to the market.
At the same time, if the application of the new mechanism leads to a reduction of 30% or more in the main-use logging quota in mature and overmature stands, a mandatory recalculation of the quotas with a corresponding reduction is provided for. After logging, the forests will be subject to mandatory restoration in accordance with legal requirements.
In addition, the resolution clarifies the requirements for conducting sanitary measures and addressing the consequences of hostilities in forests, defines the specifics of certain types of logging, and introduces a mechanism for correcting technical errors in electronic logging permits.
There are nearly 90,000 residential solar power plants in Ukraine operating under the “green” tariff, according to the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities (NKREKP).
“As of May 25, universal service providers had signed 86,691 contracts with owners of residential solar power plants. This means that more than 86,000 Ukrainian families have become participants in the energy market—not only consuming electricity but also generating it,” the energy regulator’s website states.
According to NEURC estimates, during the first five months of 2026, private households in Ukraine generated 544.8 million kWh of electricity from renewable sources, which was fed into the power grid under the “green” tariff mechanism.
“In January–May 2026, more than 3.28 billion UAH was paid for electricity generated by private households,” the NEURC noted.
The largest number of residential solar power plants operate in the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, Chernivtsi, Lviv, Odesa, Kirovohrad, and Khmelnytskyi regions.
According to the energy regulator, under martial law, residential generation takes on particular importance, as it helps increase the flexibility of the power system, maintain the reliability of electricity supply, and strengthen the energy resilience of communities.
“The NEURC provides the regulatory framework for the operation of the ‘green’ tariff mechanism and residential power generation. Thanks to the established rules, owners of solar power plants can connect their installations to the power grid and sell surplus electricity,” the commission emphasized.
The regulator noted that the European energy model envisions an active role for the “prosumer”—a market participant who both consumes and generates electricity. As it pointed out, Ukraine is gradually implementing such approaches, creating a more decentralized and resilient power system.
The NEURC did not specify the total capacity of residential solar power plants for security reasons, but market participants estimate it could be up to 2 GW. Before the war, the number of residential solar power plants was reported to be 40,000–45,000, with a combined capacity of up to 1 GW.
According to expert estimates published in open sources, Ukraine consumes approximately 60–65 billion kWh over a six-month period. Based on these figures, the electricity generated by residential solar power plants in January–May accounted for slightly more than 1% of consumption. It should be noted that grid-connected solar power plants without storage systems do not operate during power outages, which significantly affects their efficiency. At the same time, electricity stored in the battery is not accounted for by the grid.
ELECTRICITY, green tariff, HOUSEHOLD, NEURC, SOLAR POWER PLANT
Fuel prices in Ukraine continue to decline—this applies primarily to diesel, which has dropped by another 1–3 UAH per liter over the past five days, according to price monitoring at select gas station chains conducted by Energoreforma.
According to the report, natural gas prices have also fallen by up to 1 UAH per liter.
Gasoline prices remain stable, at the same level as on June 17.
According to calculations by Serhiy Kuyun, director of the consulting firm “A-95,” the price of diesel fuel has already dropped by more than 12 UAH per liter from its peak of over 90 UAH per liter.
He noted that at the start of the crisis, the price of diesel fuel was 62 UAH per liter.
The expert also pointed out that smaller retail chains, which do not have remaining stocks of fuel purchased at high prices, are lowering their prices more aggressively.
Regarding gasoline, Kuyun explained that there is no noticeable downward trend, since the difference between the purchase price (customs value) and the retail price during the “Iranian crisis” only returned to its pre-crisis February level in June.
“In other words, there are no excess profits that could explain the slowdown in price reductions. Gasoline margins have completely collapsed, which is why prices aren’t really falling. Gas stations’ finances are currently being propped up by diesel, though that doesn’t prevent diesel prices from falling sharply,” Kuyun wrote.
At the same time, the director of “A-95” emphasized that Russian attacks on gas station networks continue, and these losses are also putting pressure on their finances.
“Last week, one of the major chains lost an oil depot containing $1.5 million worth of fuel. Another chain reports that it suffers 15–20 ‘lightning strikes’ every week in frontline regions. WOG has already lost 6–7 gas stations, each worth $1 million. Gasoline and natural gas tankers are burning,” Kuyun described the situation.
He also noted that there had been an initiative to create a fund to compensate for these losses, but so far there are no sources of funding for it.
Kuyun pointed out that current global prices are not the only factor in pricing, but given the level of competition and the large number of gas stations, supply sources, and logistical capabilities in the Ukrainian market, in his opinion, there is no chance of operating under any rules other than market ones.
For his part, Volodymyr Omelchenko, director of energy and infrastructure programs at the Razumkov Center, noted that autogas is once again becoming more cost-effective than gasoline, having dropped by more than 5 UAH/liter in one month and more than 7 UAH/liter in two months.
Meanwhile, gasoline prices fell by only 1.1 UAH per liter over the same period. He noted that currently, a liter of LPG costs approximately 56% of the price of a liter of A-95.
Omelchenko attributed this, in particular, to a decline in the wholesale price of LPG, which fell by 3.46 UAH per liter over the past month.
According to him, propane and butane prices have fallen in Europe, and the import parity for LPG has also declined since its April peak. As of June 19, it stood at 34.43 UAH per liter, compared to 40.95 UAH per liter on April 16.
However, he also noted that the price cap at gas stations is determined not only by European quotations but also by the influence of wholesale prices, logistics, taxes, exchange rates, security risks, and the safety margins of the networks themselves.
“Therefore, a decrease in external prices does not always immediately translate into an equivalent decrease at the retail level,” Omelchenko said.
As previously reported, fuel prices in Ukraine began to decline around mid-June amid reports of a stabilizing situation in the Middle East and falling oil prices. On June 19, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, convened fuel market participants to discuss the situation.
He drew their attention to the fact that over the past few weeks, global markets have seen a significant drop in prices for crude oil and petroleum products, but in Ukraine, the pace of decline in retail fuel prices remains significantly slower than the pace of their previous rise.
Market participants were asked to provide further explanations regarding the reasons for the slower decline in petroleum product prices compared to their previous rapid rise, as well as the factors influencing how quickly lower petroleum product costs are reflected in prices for end consumers.
On June 17, Natalia Nikeshina, marketing director of the national network of gas stations operating under the Parallel brand, predicted that the potential for price reductions ranges from 6 UAH to 12 UAH per liter. According to her, the largest drop can be expected if European prices do indeed fall to pre-crisis levels.
The French Development Agency (AFD) will provide state-controlled Ukrgazbank with a EUR25 million credit line, EUR10 million in loan guarantees, and up to EUR10 million in grants and technical assistance to enable the bank to continue financing Ukrainian municipalities.
A letter of intent to that effect was signed on Wednesday in Gdańsk on the sidelines of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2026) at an event organized by Ukrgasbank and Deloitte titled “Strategic Cooperation for Ukraine’s Prosperity: Joining Forces of the State, the Private Sector, and Donors to Promote Recovery,” reports a correspondent for the “Interfax-Ukraine” news agency.
“Thanks to the vital support from the European Commission, we are developing a new financial aid package. These funds will be directed directly to our local municipalities and cities. This will help communities affected by the war to rebuild, recover, and remain strong,” commented Rodion Morozov, acting chairman of the board of Ukrgasbank, on the signed document.
According to him, a significant portion of this funding will be directed toward financing municipal energy projects.
Ukrgazbank, 94.94% of whose shares are owned by the Ministry of Finance, ranked sixth among Ukrainian banks as of May 1, 2026, with total assets of 238.82 billion UAH.
A significant increase in heat is expected in Ukraine early next week; in some regions, temperatures could approach levels that are dangerous for people in high-risk groups.
According to the forecast for Kyiv, after moderately warm days on June 26–27, temperatures will begin to rise rapidly. On Sunday, June 28, the capital is expected to reach around 36 degrees; on Monday, June 29, temperatures will also be around 36 degrees; and on June 30, around 33 degrees.
Such conditions can pose a serious challenge for people with cardiovascular diseases, the elderly, children, pregnant women, outdoor workers, and those in poorly ventilated spaces.
The heat is dangerous not only because of high air temperatures. Additional risk factors include high humidity, a lack of nighttime cooling, prolonged exposure to the sun, physical exertion, dehydration, alcohol consumption, and certain medications that can affect the body’s thermoregulation.
To reduce the risk of overheating, plan your day in advance: schedule physical activity and chores for the morning or evening, avoid being in the sun during the hottest hours of the day, drink water regularly—don’t wait until you’re very thirsty—and wear light, loose-fitting clothing in light colors along with a hat.
Indoors, it’s best to close windows and draw the curtains during the hottest part of the day if it’s hotter outside than inside, and to ventilate the room early in the morning, in the evening, and at night. It’s best to turn off electrical appliances that heat the air whenever possible. If you don’t have air conditioning at home, take a cool shower, use a damp towel or a fan while staying well-hydrated, or spend part of the day in cooler public spaces.
Given the war and potential power outages, Ukrainians should also stock up on drinking water in advance, charge their power banks, plan access to a cool place, and check on elderly relatives or neighbors who live alone.
Special care should be taken with children. They must not be left in a locked car, even for a few minutes. Children should be offered water more frequently, should avoid active play in the sun during midday, and should be monitored for signs of overheating—such as lethargy, intense thirst, headache, nausea, or unusual behavior.
People with chronic health conditions should consult their doctor in advance to find out how to manage during a heat wave, especially if they are taking medications for high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, or other conditions that affect fluid balance.
Dangerous symptoms include confusion, loss of coordination, sudden weakness, fainting, high body temperature, slurred speech, severe headache, repeated vomiting, or a worsening of condition after attempts to cool down. In such cases, seek medical attention immediately.
