The members of the Alliance pledged to spend at least 2% of GDP defense after the Russian troops confiscated the southern peninsula of Ukraine Crimea, and Moscow proxims took control of the large territories of eastern Ukraine in 2014.
As the Prime Minister of Estonia, Kalas promised more than 1% of the country’s GDP to help strengthen Ukraine’s military efforts.
“If every NATO country did it, Ukraine won,” ” She said BBC last year.
According to NATO estimates for 2024. externalEstonian defense costs as a share of GDP were the second highest in the military alliance.
In December 2024, NATO Secretary General Mark Ruthte said that Member States would have to “move on wartime thinking” and spend “much more than 2%” for defense.
During his first term, US President Donald Trump pressed pressure on NATO members to increase defense costs and then urged 4% of GDP.
Shortly before the second inauguration in January, Trump called on NATO European members to spend 5%, saying to reporters: “They can all afford it.”
Asked if she saw a war that ended in favor of Ukraine, Kalas replied that she was “absolutely” in her head.
“I really don’t see another option. I mean, if we allow a rigid aggression to thrive, then we will see it in other parts of the world,” she added.
She said, “All aggressors or future aggressors clearly accept notes as we respond to Russia’s aggression.”
