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

Highlights:

• Zelenskiy meets prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway in Tallinn
• Group agrees to promote joint drone production with Ukrainian companies
• Agreement comes as Zelenskiy calls for peace talks with Russia involving the US, Europe
• Kremlin says Europe not ready to mediate peace talks

Ukraine has signed a drone deal with Latvia, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday as he met with Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs on the sidelines of a summit between Ukraine and Nordic and Baltic states in the Estonian capital Tallinn.

Zelenskiy was meeting with prime ministers from the Nordic-Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway, shortly after returning from a meeting in London with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany who said they were ready to support ceasefire talks.

Europe was likely far from ready to act as a mediator in the Ukraine peace process, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. The US was leading the talks to end the more than four-year-long war before the recent Iran conflict switched its focus.

"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," Zelenskiy said in a post on X.

He gave no details of what the deal with Latvia entailed.

Kulbergs said the agreement would give Latvia technological know-how and co-production opportunities.

"We need to protect our skies, and nobody knows how to do that better than Ukraine," he told a joint press conference with Zelenskiy and other leaders attending the summit, adding drones were responsible for the vast majority of deaths of Russian troops in the Ukraine war.

The agreement foresees the "immediate" arrival of Ukrainian anti-drone combat unit experts in Latvia, Kulbergs said on X after the Tallinn summit.

"Its goal is to adopt Ukraine's anti-drone expertise, technological solutions, and training from Ukrainian drone warriors in Latvia, as well as to develop joint production in the military industries of Latvia and Ukraine," he said.

Since the outbreak of the Iran war in late February, Zelenskiy has managed to leverage Ukraine's expertise in drone warfare into a series of successful diplomatic deals during visits to the Middle East and Europe.

Rustem Umerov, the chairman of Ukraine's defence and security council, said Latvia was the sixth country to join Kyiv's drone cooperation initiative.

Last month, Zelenskiy said nearly 20 countries were interested in drone deals with Ukraine.

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

The Baltic countries, which are all members of NATO, have seen several instances of drones entering their airspace in recent weeks, as Ukraine has stepped up its long-range attacks on Russian energy facilities. Ukraine has blamed the incidents on Russia affecting the drone paths with electronic warfare.

Responding to a question on such incidents during an earlier joint press conference with his Estonian counterpart Alar Karis, Zelenskiy repeated that Ukraine was sending its experts to help protect the skies of its close partners.

In a joint statement after the Tallinn summit, the group, known as NB8, said cooperation with Ukraine would focus on integrating Kyiv's battlefield experience, training, and information sharing along with defence-industrial and technological cooperation.

"We welcome the cooperation on drones and other Ukrainian technologies proven on the battlefield, including Ukraine's willingness to share data and export defence industry and technology for co-production with European partners," it said.