Ukraine, Latvia sign drone deal as Russia says Europe not ready to mediate peace talks

TALLINN — Ukraine has signed a drone cooperation agreement with Latvia, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday during a meeting with Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs on the sidelines of a summit between Ukraine and Nordic and Baltic states in the Estonian capital.

Zelenskiy met with leaders from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, and Norway shortly after returning from talks in London with the leaders of Britain, France, and Germany, who said they were ready to support ceasefire discussions.

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Europe was likely not yet ready to act as a mediator in the Ukraine peace process. The United States has been leading efforts to end the more than four-year-long war, even as the recent Iran conflict has shifted global attention.

“These are concrete steps to strengthen our joint defense and co-production. Importantly, this also means Ukraine’s expertise and experience helping strengthen our partners,” Zelenskiy said in a post on X, adding no further details about the agreement with Latvia.

Kulbergs said the deal would provide Latvia with technological know-how and opportunities for joint production.

“We need to protect our skies, and nobody knows how to do that better than Ukraine,” he said at a joint news conference, adding that drones account for the majority of Russian troop casualties in the war.

He later said on X that the agreement includes the “immediate” deployment of Ukrainian anti-drone experts to Latvia. The goal, he said, is to adopt Ukraine’s counter-drone expertise, technologies, and training, as well as to develop joint defense production between the two countries.

Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s defense and security council, said Latvia is the sixth country to join Ukraine’s drone cooperation initiative. Zelenskiy previously said nearly 20 countries have expressed interest in similar agreements.

“Ukraine is interested in ensuring that every region of Europe has sufficient protection against Russian threats,” Zelenskiy said on X.

The Baltic states, all members of NATO, have recently reported several instances of drones entering their airspace, as Ukraine has intensified long-range strikes on Russian energy facilities. Ukraine has blamed Russia for interfering with drone navigation through electronic warfare.

At an earlier joint press conference with Estonian President Alar Karis, Zelenskiy said Ukraine is sending experts to help strengthen air defense capabilities among its partners.

In a joint statement following the Tallinn summit, the Nordic-Baltic Eight said cooperation with Ukraine would focus on integrating battlefield experience, training, and information sharing, as well as defense-industrial and technological collaboration.

“We welcome cooperation on drones and other Ukrainian technologies proven on the battlefield, including Ukraine’s willingness to share data and export defense industry technologies for co-production with European partners,” the statement said. -Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Tallinn, Anna Pruchnicka in Gdansk and Jekaterīna Golubkova in Tokyo; Editing by Gareth Jones and Chris Reese/Reuters