Ukraine can defeat Russia with U.S. support, Baltic foreign ministers say

Ukraine can drive out the invading Russians, three Baltic leaders said Monday at the National Press Club.

It simply needs additional U.S. funding and weapons to finish the job, they said.

Foreign ministers from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania spoke at a Headliners Newsmaker while in Washington to meet with President Joe Biden's administration as Congress debates legislation to provide another round of security assistance to Ukraine, which is now in its third year of fighting to push out Russian forces.

Krišjānis Kariņš, Latvia minister of foreign affairs, said another round of funding would benefit Ukraine as it needs the weapons. This is the cheapest and most efficient way to support Ukraine, according to Margus Tsahkna, Estonia minister of foreign affairs.

Tsahkna said Russian President Vladimir Putin miscalculated in the beginning of his invasion, planning for about one week of fighting. Since then, Ukraine has regained a lot of territory, including land at the Black Sea, he said.

Tsahkna said the trio discussed with Secretary of State Antony Blinken about what to do with the hundreds of billions of dollars in frozen Russian financial assets. NATO must send a message to Putin and Russian oligarchs that business as usual cannot continue for them after the invasion because the oligarchs are scared of losing their money, he said.

“Aggression must pay,” he said. “Putin must pay.”

Kariņš said additional Ukraine funding returns to American taxpayers as it is spent on U.S. weapon systems. U.S. security assistance provided to Ukraine since the start of Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, through Dec. 27, 2023, has included a variety of weapons. Many of these cannot be produced by Ukraine's domestic defense industry and can immediately improve Ukraine's resilience and ability to sustain offensive combat operations.