On December 9, a meeting took place between the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and the Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas, who visited Ukraine for the first time on a working visit.
Security and defense was the first topic on the agenda discussed by the officials. Denys Shmyhal thanked Estonia for its extensive defense support, which now amounts to nearly 542 million euros or 1.4% of Estonia's GDP. The head of the Ukrainian government highlighted the importance of Estonia's decision to annually allocate no less than 0.25% of its GDP for Ukraine's defense.
"Under Estonia's leadership, a coalition of arms, an IT coalition, and the Tallinn mechanism for cyber support to Ukraine have been established. They are already operational and achieving their goals," emphasized Denys Shmyhal.
According to him, joining the United Expeditionary Forces in the Nordic-Baltic region is of great importance: "We are ready to actively cooperate within this union and strengthen the northern flank of free Europe."
They also discussed the reconstruction of Ukraine during the meeting. It is worth noting that Estonia was one of the first to declare its patronage over a specific region — Zhytomyr Region — where it is already implementing a number of infrastructure projects. Furthermore, Estonia is involved in the development of the Plan for the Recovery of Ukraine's maritime industry and the strategy for attracting donors to support its implementation.
Denys Shmyhal emphasized that a mechanism for compensating damages inflicted upon Ukraine through Russian assets is a vital part of Ukraine's recovery and thanked his colleague for Estonia's development of such a mechanism at the national level.
"This has created an important European precedent. We expect that, thanks to the international compensation mechanism, all immobilized Russian assets will be directed toward Ukraine's needs," underlined the Prime Minister of Ukraine.
Another important aspect of cooperation discussed was energy.
According to Denys Shmyhal, through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, Estonia has provided Ukraine with over 140 transformers and more than 300 pieces of energy equipment.
"Estonia's contribution of 400,000 euros to the Energy Support Fund for Ukraine is key. Soon, an energy block from the Auer power plant in Estonia will arrive in Ukraine. It is capable of providing electricity to 150,000 people. We are also discussing the transfer of two additional energy blocks to Ukraine in 2025," reported the Head of the Ukrainian Government.
Denys Shmyhal and Kaja Kallas considered the next steps for implementing the Peace Formula proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Both nations will continue to work on restoring Ukraine's territorial integrity and ensuring global stability. In particular, they are jointly preparing for the second Global Summit, which will propose a negotiation framework for ending the war and achieving a just peace.
The prime ministers also discussed Ukraine's European integration. Denys Shmyhal emphasized the importance of Estonia's position in the European Union's key decisions regarding Ukraine's membership and its technical and consultative support.
"We also hope for solidarity so that the next European budget for 2028-2034 becomes a budget of great EU expansion," stated the Head of the Ukrainian Government.
He expressed gratitude to the Estonian people and the Government of Estonia for their solidarity with Ukraine in its difficult struggle against Russian aggression.
Following the negotiations, the two prime ministers signed a Joint Statement, which declared strengthening bilateral partnership cooperation, determination to resist Russian aggression, and unwavering political support for Ukraine from Estonia on all major issues.
The officials also called on the European Union to increase sanctions pressure on Russia, establish a complete trade embargo, impose sanctions on Gazprom, Russian oil companies, and Rosatom. The document includes an agreement to intensify sanctions to counter Russia's shadow fleet and support Ukraine's victory plan, presented by President Zelensky, as well as Ukraine's invitation to NATO membership. The Joint Statement emphasized Estonia's steadfast support for Ukraine's accession to the European Union and endorsed the continuation of Zelensky's "Grain from Ukraine" initiative.
