Estonia is "seriously" discussing sending troops into western Ukraine to assume non-direct combat roles in order to free up Ukrainian forces for the front lines, according to a top Estonian national security official.
Madis Roll, the national security adviser to Estonia's president, told the Breaking Defense website his nation is currently analyzing the possible move. Estonia is a NATO nation and would prefer to make any move as part of a full NATO mission but would not discount Estonia making the move in a smaller coalition, according to Breaking Defense.
"Discussions are ongoing," Roll said. "We should be looking at all the possibilities. We shouldn't have our minds restricted as to what we can do."
Estonian President Alar Karis holds a position with many ceremonial duties but he is ultimately the nation's commander-in-chief and a key figure in foreign policy.
Roll's remarks came after the head of Estonia's defense forces, Gen. Martin Herem, told Breaking Defense last week there had been discussions in the military months ago about sending troops to western Ukraine to assume jobs like medical services, logistics, or air defense for some western cities.
But he said those discussions had been all but dropped.
Business Insider noted Estonia is one of the geographically closest NATO members to Russia. Its eastern border is shared with the Russian regions Pskov and Leningrad.
Estonia's military relies largely on reservist units. It has about 4,200 permanent staff and 38,000 reserve troops ready.
The news outlet, attributing its information to the official defense forces website, said additional reserves bring the total number of Estonians trained for the military to about 230,000.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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