Prime Minister Kristen Michal said in Kyiv that the aim is to jointly provide the unit with the training, equipment, ammunition and other resources it needs in 2025. Detailed steps will be agreed between the NB8 in the near future.
The Estonian head of government stressed that now is the time to do more and to do it with greater urgency. “Estonia is keeping its word in increasing military aid to Ukraine by another quarter this year, purchasing 10,000 mortars to the value of 25 million euros,” he explained. “This is in addition to the 100 million euros in aid already pledged to Ukraine from the Estonian defence industry.”
Prime Minister Michal described Ukraine as having shown the world the meaning of true resilience. “In its heroic struggle against Russia’s aggression, Ukraine is fighting not just for itself, but for a rules-based world order,” he remarked. “Our mission is to support them in that. Ukraine has the right to choose its own allies.”
The NB8 includes Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. Active Nordic-Baltic cooperation has been ongoing since the 1990s.
Prime Minister Michal will be in Kyiv with various other heads of state and government on 24 February to mark the third anniversary of the outbreak of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
He will be participating in events dedicated to the anniversary, attending a commemoration ceremony for fallen Ukrainian defenders and meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and colleagues from other countries. An international summit in support of Ukraine is also being held in Kyiv to mark the anniversary of the war.
