Defense minister: Zelenskyy says no need to fear developments in US
Estonian Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur was in Kyiv on Monday. Pevkur met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said practical cooperation between the U.S. and Ukraine will continue under the new administration.
Pevkur, who met with Zelenskyy and Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in Kyiv on Monday, said the meeting included a lengthy discussion on the military assistance that has been promised to Ukraine. Much of the $60 billion USD promised in aid by the U.S. has, for instance, not yet arrived.
"Zelenskyy also shed light on what he discussed with Trump. The first conversation was rather symbolic, but Trump told Zelenskyy, in his words, that Trump supports Ukraine," said Pevkur.
"My message was that we need to continue with the current assistance formats, so that the Trump administration does not stop the Ramstein format, for example. According to Zelenskyy, we should not be so scared, and in fact, practical cooperation will certainly continue with the U.S. to help Ukraine," Pevkur said.
According to Pevkur, although Joe Biden recently decided to send $6 billion USD to support Ukraine before leaving office, this is only part of a $60 billion dollar aid package approved by Congress.
"The U.S. apparatus is quite big and sometimes slow. So the formation of new brigades is critical, and similarly, my message to Ukraine was that they have to get on with mobilizing and training themselves, otherwise we will not be able to deploy the aid that is being gathered from the world to the front, if there is no one to use it," Pevkur said.
"It's a difficult situation, everyone understands that. With Minister of Defense Umerov, we took a detailed look at the situation on the battlefield and got an up-to-date overview of the intelligence reports. It is clear that help is still needed," he added.
According to Pevkur, there was also an opportunity to invite Zelenskyy to Estonia in December, though only time will tell if that visit materializes.
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Editor: Marko Tooming
Source: "Ringvaade," interviewer Grete Lõbu