"[U.S. President] Donald Trump liked to say before and after the elections that what he did in Afghanistan was very good," Kaljulaid recalled in an appearance on ERR's "Otse uudistemajast" on Wednesday, talking about why people fear that the U.S. might withdraw from Ukraine-Russia war talks.

"Everyone remembers that Biden supposedly left in great shame, but that was actually Donald Trump's deal, and it basically said, 'Let's agree that we leave, and you do whatever you want,'" she continued. "And there was a real fear that the same could happen with Ukraine.

Kaljulaid believes that it has finally become clear to all parties involved in the peace negotiations that the war in Ukraine cannot be ended without the Europeans.

"It was clear to anyone thinking critically that the war in Ukraine wouldn't end because Donald Trump says, 'I have absolutely no interest in this war,' and that it cannot be resolved without the Europeans either," she said. "At some point, even those who might have dreamed we'd simply say how things were going to be understood that nothing would happen just because we said so, either."

Either way, Estonia's former head of state sees no reason to worry that America could follow through with its alleged plan to force Ukraine to recognize Crimea's occupation.

"Actually, it seems to me that it's the achievement of [U.S. Special Envoy] Keith Kellogg and [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio that Ukrainians started being listened to more in this process," she acknowledged.

"All these other steps are like, let's try this and see what happens, and if it doesn't happen that way, then let's try something else," Kaljulaid said. "They might come and tell the Ukrainians and the Europeans to recognize Crimea's occupation, but everyone will immediately oppose it. The most people will agree to is the Baltic states solution after World War II, where we never recognize it [de jure], but de facto, that's how it is. I'm sure all these things will be discussed as well."

She also pointed out that the belief that Estonia's foreign policy has been solely oriented toward the U.S. isn't accurate.

"I spent five years in Kadriorg, and I think I spent as much time engaging with the U.S. and Donald Trump as I did engaging with Southern European countries," the former president recalled. "[I did this] in order to have a relationship with them too. They talked to me about Turkey, I listened, I took it into account, and I talked about Russia. Ultimately, we're seeing that Europe has actually understood that it has to be physically strong too, not just morally, and that the steps Germany is taking today are very bold steps — not only militarily, but also economically."

However, if a situation were to arise where the U.S. issues demands to one of its allies, Kaljulaid confirmed that everything would be discussed together with other countries.

"Our European allies are saying the exact same thing to the Americans today — that we in Europe do things together, we in Europe are actually contributing financially together," she stressed. "And in that sense, the Americans can also see that when we're together, when we work together and can ultimately tackle things together, then that's beneficial to them, too. Of course they make a great number of wrong moves, perhaps to ultimately take different steps, but don't assume that Europeans aren't being listened to in negotiations at all. I'm sure they'll be heard, and I'm sure there will be arguments as well."

What's most important is cooperation with all allies, the former Estonian president emphasized, adding that speculating about what could happen in the future is pointless.

"Whatever scenario unfolds, it doesn't change what we need to do, and that is cooperate with all our allies as much as possible —  with those allies we can work with, and how we can," Kaljulaid said.

"We have allies with whom it's more difficult to communicate, like Turkey, Hungary and Slovakia," she continued. "We also have allies with whom we don't need to waste our breath on mutual understanding — that is the Northern-Baltic-Polish group, which as of right now is a very strong force, actually in both Europe and NATO. All these people are working today, and not one of them is sitting in the corner of their office, thinking, 'Why am I even bothering here, because maybe tomorrow we'll get this kind of news.' If it comes, we'll handle it."

Kersti Kaljulaid served as president of Estonia from October 2016 through October 2021.

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