Yesterday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced after a phone call with Vladimir Putin that the leaders agreed to begin negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. His defense secretary also said it was "unrealistic" to expect Ukraine to return to its pre-2014 borders and downplayed the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO.

Pevkur said Putin's ambition to restore the Russian Empire is the root cause of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He said the situation includes all NATO members not just Ukraine.

"Any negotiations will have clear consequences for Europe, which is why Europe must have a seat at the negotiation table. However, before we get to that point, we need to ensure Ukraine has a strong position on the battlefield, and we must not hand Russia any advantage before negotiations even begin. For us, Ukraine's strongest security guarantee remains membership in both the European Union and NATO, and Estonia will never recognize changing borders by force," the minister said in a statement.

He also called for NATO members to enhance their defense capabilities, stressing that there have been discussions about raising spending for years.

"Yesterday and today, we received a clear message from the U.S. — the time to act is now, Europe must take greater responsibility for its own security. Today, we have a clear framework in place – our defence plans and capability targets, which not only confirm the need to increase defence spending but also demonstrate the scale of this necessity," the minister said.

Discussions at the meeting focused on strengthening Allied defense capabilities and increasing defense spending ahead of the NATO Summit in The Hague this June.

The NATO-Ukraine Council meeting was also held and ministers met with Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas.

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