Estonian defense minister calls for securing Ukraine's victory: Another Budapest Memo is not solution
It is the shared responsibility of partners to ensure that Ukraine continues to do what it needs not only for self-defense, but also for victory, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said at the 18th annual Kyiv Security Forum titled "Darkness or Dawn: Is There Light Ahead?"
Pevkur said it was important, more than ever, to keep international attention focused on Ukraine’s fight for its territory and stressed that partners had a shared responsibility to ensure Ukraine could continue doing what it needed not only for self-defense, but also for victory.
He recalled that Estonia had committed to providing Ukraine with military assistance of no less than 0.25% of its GDP per year.
According to Pevkur, Estonia had in fact done more and remained one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters in the world.
He said Estonia would again in practice exceed the 0.25% level this year.
Pevkur said Estonia’s latest EUR 12 million package under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) had helped ensure that critically important equipment continued to flow from the United States to Ukraine as well.
At the same time, he expressed regret that today only a few were doing a lot to help Ukraine.
He added that Estonia would continue encouraging everyone to do at least as much as it does.
According to Pevkur, Estonia believes the strongest security guarantee for Ukraine is a militarily strong and independent Ukrainian state.
He said Ukraine fully belongs in the European Union and NATO and stressed that another Budapest Memorandum would not be a solution. He added that Estonians also understood Putin’s intentions.
The Kyiv Security Forum is an annual international event launched in 2007 on the initiative of Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s Open Ukraine Foundation. This year it is being held on April 23 and 24.
