Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas discussed with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who arrived in Tallinn on Thursday, an increase in military assistance to Ukraine and an increase in the production capacity of the Western defense industry, the press service of the Estonian government reported.
“In order to ensure Ukraine’s victory, allied military assistance must be continued and increased, and Russia’s ability to finance the war must be limited. We also need to increase the production capacity of the defense industry to give Ukraine the ammunition it needs to win, as well as to strengthen its own defense and reconstruction reserves,” Kallas was quoted as saying by the press service.
The prime minister added that she had presented to Austin the idea, which was discussed with the heads of state and government of the European Union last week, to jointly organize defense procurement in support of Ukraine.
The US Secretary of Defense praised Estonia for its significant defense spending, which has risen to nearly 3% of GDP, and for Estonia’s role in supporting Ukraine and hosting Ukrainian refugees.
The US Defense Secretary will also meet with his Estonian counterpart Hanno Pevkur. Austin is scheduled to visit the military town of Tapa, where a US Army infantry company with a HIMARS multiple launch rocket system unit is stationed, which arrived in Estonia in December last year.
Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal “the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.” For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out “demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine”, to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for “bloody crimes against civilians” in Donbas.