Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday met the leaders of the Nordic and Baltic States in Estonia, where he attended the summit of the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) countries as a guest.
In the capital Tallinn, Zelensky also held bilateral meetings with some of the prime ministers and with Estonian President Alar Karis. The NB8 group of nations includes Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
"The NB8 format is, as always, extremely practical," Zelensky said after the talks, thanking the group of nations.
According to the host, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal, French President Emmanuel Macron also joined the discussions via video link. "We will continue to stand by Ukraine until a just and lasting peace is achieved," he told the group.
The Nordic and Baltic States are among the strongest supporters of Ukraine, which has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than four years.
According to the Estonian State Chancellery, the eight countries - five of which border Russia - have collectively provided more than €42 billion ($48.6 billion) in aid to date. Relative to population size, this represents the world’s highest per-capita contribution.
Another topic of discussion was the prevention of incidents involving incoming drones. In the course of the war in Ukraine, misdirected Ukrainian drones have repeatedly entered the airspace of the Baltic countries and Finland, and some have crashed. Kiev had used them to attack targets in north-western Russia.
Estonia was the first country in the Baltics where NATO fighter jets shot down an intruding drone and, on Monday, an unmanned aerial vehicle was also shot down over Latvia. There was no major damage or injuries.
On the sidelines of the summit, both countries signed agreements with Ukraine on closer cooperation in drone defence. "We must protect our airspace - and nobody knows better than Ukraine how to do that," said Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs.
Ukraine is regarded as a world leader in drone warfare.
