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Estonia to provide Ukraine with military aid worth 20 million euros — top defense official

On March 19, EU foreign policy spokesman Peter Stano said that about 500,000 shells would be delivered from the EU to Ukraine by the end of March, and that this figure would reach one million by the end of the year

VILNIUS, March 21. /TASS/. Estonia will send Ukraine a military aid package worth 20 million euros, including anti-tank guns, sniper equipment and ammunition, the country’s Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said at a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov in Kiev.

"The package includes recoilless anti-tank guns, explosives, various types of artillery ammunition, gas masks, sniper equipment, smaller calibre ammunition and more. We put this package together focussing on providing the maximum benefit to Ukraine while making sure to not diminish Estonian defence readiness," Pevkur said in a statement published on the Defense Ministry's website.

The statement also said that the country would send 155 mm shells to Kiev as part of a new military aid package as "Estonia’s additional contribution to the European Union’s initiative to send one million shells to Ukraine" per year. According to the ministry, Tallinn's decision to send 155 mm ammunition will be partially financed by Denmark.

On March 19, EU foreign policy spokesman Peter Stano said that about 500,000 shells would be delivered from the EU to Ukraine by the end of March, and that this figure would reach one million by the end of the year. On March 13, Permanent Secretary of the Estonian Defense Ministry Kusti Salm called on Western countries to provide at least 120 billion euros annually in military aid to Ukraine. This figure is about 10% of NATO's total military budget for 2023.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that the delivery of new weapons to Ukraine would not change the situation on the front.

Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell said on February 7 that EU countries had provided Kiev with 88 billion euros in aid over the two years of the conflict, which includes all spending on Ukraine, including money to support Ukrainian refugees.

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Ukraine crisis Ukraine Estonia

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