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.