During her working visit to Riga, Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk met with Estonian Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur.
The parties discussed in detail the strengthening of cooperation within the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a military coalition led by the United Kingdom and comprising the countries of Northern Europe and the Baltic states.
«russia shows no real signs of willingness to stop its aggression and seek a diplomatic way to end the war. Therefore, we need to strengthen military cooperation with our NATO partners and find new formats for interaction. In particular, within the JEF coalition, which considers russia to be the greatest threat to Europe,» Olena Kondratiuk said.
The Deputy Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament thanked Estonia, as a co-founder and member of the JEF coalition, for supporting the decision at the Oslo 2025 summit to grant Ukraine special extended partnership status. This format provides for deeper Ukrainian participation in JEF activities, joint training and exchange of experience in the field of security and defence. In particular, JEF military exercises will be held in Latvia in March this year.
«Ukraine seeks full membership in JEF and we count on Estonia's support in achieving this goal. The Ukrainian Defence Forces are ready to share their unique experience of modern warfare with our partners and make a practical contribution to strengthening European security,» emphasised Deputy Speaker Olena Kondratiuk.
At the same time, Hanno Pevkur stressed: «Estonia will do everything possible to ensure Ukraine's membership in the JEF.»
On behalf of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Deputy Speaker Olena Kondratiuk also thanked Estonia for providing comprehensive assistance worth almost €1 billion since the start of russia's full-scale invasion. This amounts to 3% of Estonia's GDP, placing it second in the world in terms of this indicator.
«In 2026, Estonia will allocate 0.25% of its GDP to support Ukraine. The country's state budget provides for approximately €111 million for this purpose. Most of the funds are earmarked for military aid. We are grateful to Estonia for participating in the PURL initiative and for its contribution of €10 million last year. We look forward to a new contribution in 2026, the amount of which is currently being determined,» emphasised Olena Kondratiuk.
Ukraine also counts on cooperation with Estonia within the EU's SAFE defence fund, in particular in the joint production of drones.
In turn, Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur stressed that his country would continue to provide military aid to Ukraine.