President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is ready to work on strengthening ties and full membership in the Joint Expeditionary Force.
He said this during his address to the summit of the member states of the Joint Expeditionary Force.
‘Each new month of this struggle between Russia and the free world proves the importance of coordinating our efforts. We all need to stand together. Russia will continue to escalate its threats until it can afford to do so. That is why we need more joint work, more coordinated steps and efforts. We need to strengthen all our cooperation formats, including the Joint Expeditionary Force. Ukraine is ready for more interaction and joining the JEF as a member,’ Zelenskyy said.
‘I said this during my address to the summit of the countries participating in the Joint Expeditionary Force. This military partnership brings together the United Kingdom, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and is designed to respond quickly to crises and carry out expeditionary operations,’ he added.
At the Tallinn summit, the leaders signed a joint statement supporting the main principles of Zelenskyy's Victory Plan and expressing their commitment to cooperate with Ukraine in its implementation.
‘We have supported the basic principles of the Victory Plan proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and are working with Ukraine to facilitate its implementation. We have reaffirmed that a comprehensive, just and lasting peace requires the full and unconditional withdrawal of all Russian troops and military assets from the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders,’ the text published on the Estonian government's website reads.
The leaders also said they were committed to supporting Ukraine on its irreversible path to NATO membership.
The JEF is a defence cooperation format led by the United Kingdom, which, in addition to Estonia, includes the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland. The idea behind the JEF is to provide first aid before NATO Article 5 is invoked. The crisis response measures developed under the JEF are complementary to NATO's activities.