Estonia to help Ukraine to restore Zhytomyr region – FM

KYIV. May 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Estonia will help Ukraine to restore Zhytomyr region, Estonian Foreign Minister Eva-Maria Liimets has said.

At a press conference with the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine in Kyiv on Friday Liimets said Estonia would like to focus its attention on Zhytomyr region, to help this region with the reconstruction.

Liimets also said Estonia has already received a certain understanding of the needs and plans to provide assistance based on the information received.

The foreign minister said Estonia is a small country, but its idea is to attract other partners, in particular financial partners and other countries, to jointly join the restoration of houses, kindergartens and ensure the implementation of large infrastructure projects.

According to her, Estonia also plans to send a team of demining experts to help clear mines in the liberated regions of Ukraine.

Liimets said they fully support Ukraine’s obtaining the status of an EU candidate. Estonian officials would like to acknowledge the great work that has been done to fill out the EU questionnaire. They continue to support Ukraine in many ways and in every possible way.

She also said Estonia has received more than 35,000 Ukrainian refugees.

The prime minister said they continue to provide humanitarian assistance and recently voted to allocate additional EUR 3 million for humanitarian assistance for Ukraine.