Zelenskyy calls Estonian PM after recent drone incident
Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Photo: Zelenskiy / Official / Telegram)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke by phone with Estonia’s
Prime Minister Kristen Michal and discussed preparations for the NB8 format
meeting to be held in Estonia, Zelenskyy said on May 21.
“We discussed preparations for the NB8 format with Ukraine, which will take place in Estonia — we hope it will be truly productive,” Zelenskyy wrote in a Twitter post.
He thanked Estonia for support provided since the first days of the full-scale invasion, informed Michal about the situation on the front and expressed gratitude for “kind words about our soldiers.” He added that Ukraine’s position on the battlefield is now stronger than in previous years and said the two leaders had talked about diplomatic and security prospects and agreed to work substantively on all issues, including security.
On May 19, Estonian authorities shot down a drone that violated its airspace; the drone was believed to have been headed for targets inside Russia. Estonian officials called that the first time the country had independently shot down a drone in its airspace.
Heorhiy Tykhyi, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, said Moscow was deliberately redirecting Ukrainian drones toward the Baltic states using electronic warfare, hoping to leverage such incidents for propaganda purposes. “We apologize to Estonia and all our Baltic friends for such unintentional incidents,” he said.
Estonia’s Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur also warned that Russia could exploit the incident for its own propaganda. “I want to confirm again that immediately after what happened I spoke with the defense minister of Ukraine,” Pevkur said.
“Estonia did not grant permission to use its airspace to
anyone except its allies, and the Ukrainians did not ask for such permission.
The Ukrainian defense minister apologized for the incident but at the same time
expressed satisfaction that we shot down the drone.”
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