Estonia supported the strikes on Russian ports, but asked that its airspace be left untouched
Kristen Michal made this statement in an interview with Bloomberg during the European Political Community summit in Yerevan.
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal has backed Ukraine’s strikes on Russian port facilities in the Baltic region.
According to him, it is clear to Estonia that Ukraine is defending itself and destroying Russia’s “money-siphoning machine”, in particular its port infrastructure.
“It is quite clear to us that Ukraine is defending itself and destroying the Russian money-siphoning machine, including various port facilities, in self-defence,” Mihal said.
He also stated that responsibility for such incidents ultimately lies with the Kremlin. According to the Prime Minister, Russia has attacked Ukrainian civilian facilities that “are in no way military targets”.
Estonia’s request
Michal’s statement came after Ukrainian drones once again entered Estonian and Finnish airspace.
According to the prime minister, Estonia’s request is simple: drones and debris from the war must not end up in its airspace.
“Our simple request or message is that debris from the war must not enter our airspace,” Michal said.
Bloomberg notes that European Union countries have recently recorded a number of incidents involving drones entering their airspace. This comes after Ukraine expanded its strikes deep into Russia, targeting ports and energy infrastructure near the borders of the three Baltic states and Finland.
In March, a drone struck the chimney of an Estonian power station. Following this, emergency text messages were sent out across the country.
Early on Sunday, drones again violated the airspace of Estonia and Finland. According to Bloomberg, they caused no damage.
Finland’s position
Finland, which is also a staunch ally of Ukraine and a critic of Russia, has expressed a similar stance.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo discussed these incidents with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Yerevan on Sunday.
According to Finnish broadcaster YLE, Orpo described such incursions into airspace as “unacceptable”.
Orpo also acknowledged that EU and NATO countries bordering Russia and Ukraine face technical difficulties in monitoring and shooting down low-flying military drones that cross their borders.
According to the Prime Minister, Estonia is procuring new radar systems and already has air defence systems in place.
As reported by ThePublic, Finland will allocate $300 million to Ukraine for defence and air defence
Follow us on Telegram
