Kyiv has intensified diplomatic efforts in a bid to force Moscow into direct talks to end the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking in Estonia on Tuesday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is building a “clear diplomatic strategy to ensure that Russia does not believe the war can still yield any benefits for it.”
He also pointed out that Ukraine’s defence forces have significantly strengthen their positions on the frontlines, which could be an important factor to push the Kremlin to the negotiating table.
“Ukraine’s positions on the front line are strong. Russia is losing more than 30,000 of its soldiers every month, either killed or seriously wounded.”
Another argument to pressure Moscow to talks with Kyiv is Ukraine’s intensified long-range strikes deep into Russian territory, Zelenskyy stated.
“Our long-range impact on Russian logistics, Russian oil refining and Russian military production is also significant,” he said adding that the annexed Crimea and parts of Russia “there is already a petrol shortage and normal communications have been down for months.”
“The Russian budget is in tatters. We must keep up the pressure and bring Russia back onto the diplomatic track.”
Zelenskyy arrived to the Nordic-Baltic summit in Tallinn from an E3 meeting in London with the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
With a G7 meeting in France scheduled next week before an EU summit in Brussels on 18-19 June, Ukraine’s president is trying to build up a strong diplomatic support for negotiations with the Kremlin and to have Europe at the negotiating table.
“Yesterday in the E3 format, today in our NB8 format, and later at the EU summit, we will be discussing precisely this – how Europe should conduct itself in the negotiations and when there might be real progress in these talks,” Zelenskyy said in Tallin.
“Europe needs a real and strong voice in the negotiations and must be among those who will make the decisions.”
He also said that despite the US administration focus shifting recently to the Middle East, Washington is not abandoning the talks with Russia.
“America is ready to engage actively in the diplomatic processes – I discussed this yesterday with representatives of the US President.”
The Kremlin spokesperson claimed on Tuesday that the US-led mediation process is “currently on hold”.
Dmitry Peskov also rejected the possibility of the EU representatives taking part in any diplomatic talks aimed at putting an end to Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine.
“As for the Europeans’ role as mediators, it seems they are still, as it were, far from being ready to act as mediators,” Peskov claimed, as he repeated Moscow’s allegations against European leaders, claims they “are far more focused on the continuation of the war than on peace talks.”
Drone deal with Latvia
Zelenskyy’s visit and the summit of Nordic and Baltic leaders takes place amid frictions over drone incursions in the region.
In recent weeks, drones crashed into the chimney of a power plant in Estonia, hit empty fuel tanks in Latvia and been shot down by Romanian fighter jets stationed in Lithuania.
Ukrainian officials apologised, saying the drones had been aimed at military targets inside Russia but were sent off course by Russian electronic interference.
In a post on X, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine had signed a drone deal with Latvia after his first talks with the country’s new Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs.
“These are concrete things to strengthen our joint defence and co-production, and, importantly, this also means Ukraine’s expertise and experience helping to strengthen our partners,” Zelenskyy wrote.
Estonia’s President Alar Karis said that using fighter jets to shoot down drones is very expensive and he hoped to partner with Ukraine for technology and expertise to do so more cheaply.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine was ready to do so, drawing on experience it had built up helping countries in the Middle East shoot down drones, where it had sent expert teams to train local forces.
“We did this in the Middle East and it worked,” he said.
He said Ukraine could offer the low-cost interceptor drones it has deployed at home to build an inexpensive shield against Russian drone attacks, and that Kyiv could send expert teams to its European partners “at any moment.”
Karis said he expects drones to cross into Baltic airspace as the war continues and urged the public to remain calm. Estonia and the other Baltic states are among Ukraine’s staunchest supporters in its war against Russia.