“Based on last winter, we know that Russia’s aim is to bomb Ukrainians into the cold, deprive them of water and electricity, and thereby break their resistance. The task of Ukraine’s supporters before winter is to provide sufficient military, economic and humanitarian assistance to ensure that the aggressor’s plan does not succeed,” said the Foreign Minister.
Tsahkna added that Estonia recently allocated €340,000 to help families keep their homes warm and prepare for keeping livestock during the winter, improve the insulation and heating resilience of accommodation centres for internally displaced people, and procure mobile emergency response centres for Ukrainian rescuers.
“Ukraine is ready to continue the fight for a just and lasting peace and to defend both itself and all of Europe against an aggressive Russia. Our task is to enable Ukraine to continue its resistance through comprehensive support,” Tsahkna said.
At the same time, pressure on Russia must continue to be increased in order to deprive it of the economic means to continue the war and force it to end the war.
“Europe must stay the course and show Russia that support for Ukraine does not depend on changes in governments or political forces. Important levers for increasing pressure include additional sanctions, preventing sanctions evasion, and putting frozen assets to use,” Tsahkna said.
The meetings also addressed Ukraine’s future in the European Union and NATO.
“Ukraine’s accession to the EU and NATO is crucial both for European security and for future economic prosperity,” Tsahkna said. According to the Foreign Minister, attention must also be paid to Ukraine’s reconstruction, with the Ukraine Recovery Conference to be hosted by Estonia in January 2027 being particularly important.
“Estonia and Ukraine expect that the reconstruction conference, taking place at what is likely to be the darkest hour of the war, will be used to provide Ukraine with the assistance it needs most urgently at that very moment,” said the Foreign Minister.
At the meeting between representatives of the Nordic-Baltic cooperation format (NB8) and Dmytro Lubinets the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, discussions focused on the situation of children deported by Russia and possibilities for bringing them back, as well as the situation of children who have remained in the occupied territories.
“The deportation of children and the attempt to erase their Ukrainian roots are among Russia’s most brutal crimes. We know that more than 20,000 children have been forcibly taken to Russia, where they are abused, militarised and cut off from their ties to their homeland,” said Tsahkna. “The Human Rights Commissioner and his team are working resolutely to bring the children back, and it is the international community’s task to support these efforts in every possible way so that every child can return to their homeland and their family.”
