Defmins of Estonia, Ukraine sign defense cooperation agreement

  • 2023-04-21
  • BNS/TBT Staff

TALLINN – Estonian Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur and Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov signed a defense cooperation agreement between Estonia and Ukraine in Germany on Friday.

Signed at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Ramstein, the agreement sets out continuing cooperation and information exchange in the areas of defense policy and planning, intelligence and situational awareness, defense education and training, and more, between Estonia and Ukraine, spokespeople for the Ministry of Defense said.

At its first Cabinet meeting on Thursday, the new government approved Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur’s decision to send Ukraine urgently needed artillery ammunition as part of the Estonian contribution towards the European Union agreement to send Ukraine one million rounds of artillery ammunition.

"With the million rounds of ammunition initiative, we showed that when needed, we can do big things together and fast. Estonia is quickly moving ahead with our delivery of ammunition, and we will definitely continue work on subsequent aid packages. However, for bilateral cooperation, the agreement signed today provides a clear framework not only for the political level, but also for all those active in the field of defense," Pevkur said.

Commenting on the Ramstein meeting, Pevkur said that unity on the continuing support for Ukraine is clearly visible.

"It was good to see that the need to continue helping Ukraine resounded in all statements and several countries around the table also announced sending ammunition as well as other significant military aid packages," the minister added.

The Ramstein Ukraine Defense Contact Group is a US-led format that met for the first time a year ago, having met 12 times to date. The objective of the meetings is to get an overview of Ukraine’s needs and the aid that donors are sending. Among the over 50 participating states, in addition to NATO and EU allies, participants include Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Australia, Morocco, Qatar, and Israel.