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Estonia’s foreign minister has said European leaders should be prepared to send troops to Ukraine to push ahead with any peace deal brokered by Donald Trump between Kiev and Moscow.
Margus Tsakhkina told the Financial Times that the best security guarantee for Ukraine was NATO membership, as requested by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. But if the U.S. were opposed to inviting Kiev to join the military alliance, Europe would have to step in with troop deployments after the fighting ends to deter further Russian aggression.
“If we are talking about real security guarantees, it means that there will be a just peace. Then we are talking about NATO membership,” Tsukhna said. But it is impossible without America. And then we are talking about any form. [of guarantee] In the sense of boots on the ground.“
Trump has vowed to end the war in Ukraine quickly after taking office, fearing he could withdraw U.S. military support or abandon Ukraine altogether, imposing an unfair deal on Kiev. can Many of Trump’s allies have called on Europe to shoulder the burden of supporting Ukraine.
Tsakhana said Trump’s victory in the US presidential election has intensified discussions among Kiev’s allies about how to proceed with Ukraine in the face of its recent battlefield losses, as well as pressured Moscow to come to the negotiating table and ensure that any ceasefire was sustainable.
“There are a lot of conversations and a lot of conversations between each other in Europe and between the Trump team and the administration.”
The minister said it would be “really, really, really complicated” for the Europeans to provide security guarantees to Ukraine without US support, not least because NATO could eventually be dragged into any clash with Russian forces.
Estonia has long been Ukraine’s most vocal supporter and has criticized other allies’ reservations over arms supplies to Kiev that Moscow claims would escalate tensions. Tallinn also fears that if Russia prevails in Ukraine, the Baltic states will be at the forefront of Vladimir Putin’s drive to reassert Moscow’s influence in the former Soviet space.
Some analysts believe that any European effort to shore up Ukraine could begin with a joint expeditionary force led by Poland and the United Kingdom to shore up Ukraine, a defense group that includes Nordic and Includes the Baltic States and the Netherlands. The countries, which are meeting in Tallinn next month, are Ukraine’s staunchest supporters and provide two-thirds of European bilateral military aid to Kiev.
Taskhna said that it would be important for France and Germany to come on board as well. Germany is the second largest military aid provider to Ukraine after the United States.
He added that Britain had “the opportunity and all the responsibility” to take the lead in Europe’s efforts to strengthen Ukraine’s security, while Poland was also playing a very active role in the talks. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last week that he would engage in talks with the US, NATO and European allies on how to guarantee Ukraine’s security.
Tsakhna said he did not believe Trump would abandon NATO because it was not in America’s political or economic interests to leave Europe at the mercy of imperial Russia. But the Europeans must show that they are willing to invest more in their defense.
Estonia spends the equivalent of 3.4 percent of its GDP on defense and wants NATO to meet a minimum spending level of 2.5 percent, up from 2 percent, at the alliance’s summit in The Hague next June. Agree.
The minister said that Europe lacks arms stockpile and more needs to be done to increase defense industrial capacity.
“But what we have is money. We have a lot of money. I don’t believe governments that say they can’t ask for more from their people because of what we’ve done in Estonia,” Tsahkana specifically said. but cited tax increases implemented by Tallinn to fund higher defense spending.
He said that Ukraine was now seen as NATO’s first line of defense, that it was Europe’s security structure that could be changed in the coming months, not just Ukraine’s fate.
“We can’t wait to see what the US decides.”
