Estonia backs Ukraine’s EU and NATO bids, Zelenskyy and Kallas sign joint declaration

Deputy Head of the President's Office Ihor Zhovkva reported this. 

The declaration, in particular, refers to:

• support for the Ukrainian 'Peace Formula'
• readiness for close cooperation to bring Russia to justice, including through the establishment of a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression, as well as the need to develop a legal framework for the practical use of frozen Russian assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine
• Estonia's support for Ukraine's membership in the EU and Kyiv's progress in implementing the European Commission's recommendations
• a willingness to cooperate to bring Ukraine closer to NATO membership, in particular in the context of the NATO Summit in Vilnius in July, as well as a commitment to coordinate joint actions to guarantee Ukraine's security even before membership.

By the way, Estonia has become the tenth NATO country (after the Czech Republic, Belgium, Montenegro, Lithuania, Poland, Italy, Latvia, Iceland, and Slovenia) to formalize support for Ukraine's NATO membership in a joint declaration.

Earlier, Zelenskyy reported on the details of the talks with Kaja Kallas on Telegram.

He emphasized that in terms of per capita, Estonian aid to Ukraine is one of the largest in the world.

“I thank the Prime Minister and the Estonian people for their sincere and, most importantly, timely support of our defense. If you look at it per capita, Estonia’s aid for our defense is one of the largest in the world,” Zelenskyy wrote.

According to Zelenskyy, the talks with Kallas were meaningful and they discussed the full range of issues that matter right now.

“First and foremost, our capabilities are at the frontline. It is important that all our partners are now as decisive and as fast as possible in delivering the promised weapons so that we can speed up the end of the war – to liberate our land and restore the full force of international law,” Zelenskyy said.

He added that he also discussed with Kallas his expectations from the NATO Summit in Vilnius.

“The second is our political interaction, the movement towards full membership in the European Union and NATO. Today we discussed our expectations from the Vilnius Summit. Now is the time when the Alliance needs ambitious decisions. Reliable security in Europe can only be based on full certainty in the relations on NATO's eastern flank - first and foremost, in the relations between Ukraine and NATO. We need a positive political decision by the Alliance on Ukraine's accession, and I thank Estonia for supporting this kind of NATO strengthening and for enshrining our common goal in the declaration we signed,” Zelenskyy said.

He added that during the talks with the Estonian prime minister, he also touched upon the topic of rebuilding Ukraine.

“Of course, we talked about reconstruction today. Estonia was the first country to start practical reconstruction on our land – here in the Zhytomyr region, in Ovruch. This is a good example for many other partners. And I'm sure we will do a lot together,” Zelenskyy emphasized.

• On April 20, the Estonian government decided to send a batch of large-caliber artillery shells to Ukraine.