Zelenskyy and new Estonian defence minister discuss air defence and arms exports
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met Estonia's newly appointed Defence Minister Martin Herem during his first visit to Ukraine in the role. They discussed funding for air defence procurements, new contributions to the Prioritised Ukraine Requirement List (PURL) programme and the supply of Ukrainian weapons to Estonia.
Source: European Pravda, citing Zelenskyy on X (Twitter)
Details: Zelenskyy said that strengthening the protection of Ukrainian skies was one of the topics of negotiations.
Quote: "Estonia is actively helping us in this area, and we are grateful for every defence package and for its support for the PURL initiative, which enables us to obtain ballistic missile interceptors."
Details: Zelenskyy said he and Herem discussed opportunities for further contributions to PURL and ways to secure additional funding for air defence procurement.
Quote: "The Drone Deal between our countries allows Ukraine to export its arms to Estonia. Estonia gains battle-tested weapons and Ukraine gains additional funding for its defence. We agreed that our teams will move quickly to put together such an export package."
This was Herem's first visit to Ukraine as Estonia's defence minister.
Background: Herem was appointed in September after his predecessor, Hanno Pevkur, announced he would resign amid audit-revealed issues surrounding defence procurements for Ukraine.
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