Estonia: West should allow Ukraine to hit targets in Russia with Western weapons

Estonia's President Alar Karis voiced his support for Ukraine to freely strike Russian territory using Western-provided weapons, without constraints only allowing attacks on Russian-occupied Ukrainian land. The post Estonia: West should allow Ukraine to hit targets in Russia with Western weapons appeared first on Euromaidan Press.

Jan 11, 2024 - 09:29

Estonia: West should allow Ukraine to hit targets in Russia with Western weapons

Estonia opposes restrictions on strikes on Russian territory with weapons provided to Ukraine by the West, according to Estonian President Alar Karis. He said it at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on 11 January in Estonia.

One of the conditions for the supply of Western-made weapons to Ukraine is that Ukrainians should not use them against targets in Russia but only in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. This significantly limits Ukrainian troops as they, for instance, cannot swiftly destroy the Russian missile launchers bombarding Kharkiv every day. Due to these limitations, Ukraine is trying to improve and mass-produce domestic missiles and long-range suicide drones.

“Providing our support, we shouldn’t prevent the destruction of facilities on the aggressor’s territory in order to slow down the advance of Russian troops. And therefore, there should be no restrictions on the weapons that are transferred to Ukraine,” Alar Karis said.

The Estonian President also noted that Estonia will be allocating 1/4% of its defense budget for Ukraine’s needs in 2024-2027:

“We support Ukraine and for the period from 2024 to 2027 we will provide 0.25% of our defense budget for Ukraine. We encourage everyone else to also provide Ukraine with as much assistance as they can until Russia stops the war,” Karis said.

Asked about Western pressure for a ceasefire, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy stated that he had not experienced any direct contacts urging such action. He affirmed that Ukraine will proceed based on its own decisions.

Zelenskyy of Ukraine noted that agreeing to a ceasefire under current circumstances would allow Russia to regroup, bolster its forces, and resupply, potentially leading to renewed attacks, according to ERR.

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The post Estonia: West should allow Ukraine to hit targets in Russia with Western weapons appeared first on Euromaidan Press.