Estonian parlt speaker in US: Ukraine needs West's support until its victory

TALLINN - Estonian parliament speaker Lauri Hussar, who is on a joint visit of the speakers of the Baltic parliaments to the US, said at the high-level meetings in the US Congress that Ukraine needs the support of the US, the countries of Europe and the whole Western world until its victory in the war of aggression started by Russia.

Hussar noted that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is an attack against the entire democratic world and therefore it is crucial that strong support for Ukraine continues until Ukraine has won the war.

"The Baltic states will continue to give Ukraine comprehensive assistance and in the meetings here we were assured that the need for continued support for Ukraine is also well understood by members of the US Congress," he said.

Hussar also underlined the importance of holding Russia to account -- the perpetrators of crimes committed in Ukraine, including the crime of aggression, must be brought before a special tribunal and Russia must also compensate the damage caused to Ukraine. He pointed out that, like the Congress, the Riigikogu is also debating a bill that would provide for the possibility to use Russia’s assets frozen under international sanctions to compensate Ukraine for the war damage caused to it.

At the meetings, the speakers of the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian parliaments also discussed the US-Baltic defense cooperation, the increasing of defense spending and the activities of countries to strengthen security in the region. Hussar highlighted that since the start of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, all Baltic states have increased their defense spending, and this year Estonia’s defense budget exceeds 3 percent of GDP for the first time. The Baltic speakers thanked the US as one of their closest allies for the good cooperation and great contribution to the security of the Baltic region.

In Washington, the speakers of the parliaments of the Baltic states had meetings with Mike Johnson, speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, former speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Cardin, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and other members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Before arriving in the US, the Baltic speakers were on a joint visit to Canada.

Hussar was on the joint visit together with speaker of the Latvian parliament Daiga Mierina and speaker of the Lithuanian parliament Viktorija Cmilyt-Nielsen.