Estonia PM condemns Russia's invasion of Ukraine; avers 'Putin must not win war'

While the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has entered day 25 on Monday, another country has joined the cue of other western countries and slammed Russia for its military operations in Ukraine. As reported by ANI, Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas while condemning Russia for invading Ukraine said that President Vladimir Putin "must not win the war". 

PM Kallas while speaking to CNN on Sunday called it "heartbreaking" what Russia is doing to Ukraine and said, "We are trying to do everything we can to support and help Ukraine to fight this war. Putin must not win this war."

The Prime Minister who will be also attending the upcoming NATO summit held in view of the Russia-Ukraine war also said that NATO's strategy should be on focusing to end the war through a "smart containment" which means that NATO should shift from 
a "deterrence posture" to a secure "defense posture". This also includes raising the contribution of the NATO nations to strengthen each other's defence and then also NATO as a whole. 

“There are some capabilities that are too expensive for any individual state, but if we do them together here in Europe to protect our territories, we are stronger,” she said further adding that nations should move to isolate Russia “at all the political levels that are possible.”

Notably, the Group of Seven (G7) nations, the European Union, and NATO will be meeting on March 24 to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine at a summit in Brussels. 

Peace must be achieved first but Russia showing no signs of it: Estonia PM

Emphasizing the need to achieve peace in the war-hit country, the Estonian Prime Minister spoke on Poland's proposal to send peacekeepers to Ukraine and said that first peace must be achieved, however, Russia is not showing any intentions of it.

"We can only have a peacekeeping mission if we have peace, but you know, if you look at what is happening in Ukraine, peace is nothing that we see there. It's a war that is going on, and I don't see that Russia has any intention of doing anything to achieve peace. So first we should have peace, then, to keep it,” she said.

Expressing concern on the crisis situation in Ukraine, while Kallas asserted said that there is not a possibility of a third world war in Europe, she also compared deportations happening in Mariupol to what Russia did in the 1940s when Estonians were put in “cattle cars” sent to Siberia. 

Image: AP