Estonia and Ukraine sign drone agreement

At the NATO summit in Ankara, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a drone cooperation agreement.
Although the contents of the agreement are not public, Michal explained after the signing that it will allow Estonian companies to begin producing drones based on Ukrainian know‑how.
"In short, the drone agreement means that Ukraine's skills and intellectual knowledge — currently the best in the world and developing very rapidly because of the war — will become accessible to our companies. For Estonian companies, this means production can be brought to Estonia. Ukraine signs such agreements only with its closest partners," Michal said.
For Estonia, the agreement also creates the possibility of purchasing Ukrainian‑made drones in the future. "There is a clause stating that we intend to do so. Concrete decisions will always be made through defense planning, and we did not agree on specific financial figures yet," Michal added.
Latvia signed its drone deal already in June. Although Zelenskyy visited Tallinn at that time, the agreement was not signed then. Michal said the delay was due to technical discussions.
"For Estonia, it is important to describe clearly what we want to do together. But if we were to take on specific obligations, we would need parliament's approval. Right now, this is an intention: to bring production to Estonia and gain access to what matters most — modern drone technology," Michal said.
He added that the agreement could mean Estonia will eventually have access to the newest drones currently still in testing. It may also mean Estonian companies will begin producing drones together with Ukrainian partners in Estonia.
Michal said the most important aspect of the agreement is access to Ukrainian intellectual property. "Meaning the knowledge of how things work, how something can be done, what has been tested. Access to this, and cooperation between our entrepreneurs, is a trusted partnership. There are certain conditions for how it works, and now Estonian companies have the opportunity," he said.
After signing the agreement, Michal and Zelenskyy held a bilateral meeting.
"We talked about what Europe, we, and the world can do to put Ukraine in a position where Russia is forced to make concessions. We also discussed that negotiations should take place between Ukraine and Russia, and that Europe will not act as a mediator," Michal said.
"We talked about many other details, including an important event coming up in Estonia — the Ukraine Reconstruction Conference, which will take place here in January 2027. We discussed how to organize it, maintain contact, and what should be done in the process. There were many different topics," he added.
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Editor: Valner Väino, Argo Ideon
Source: ERR interview by Joakim Klementi












