‘Putin Is FAILING’ NATO Chief’s CHILLING Message As Ukraine HITS Another Oil Site Snubbing Trump

Putin is trying to weaken our resolve and stop our support for Ukraine but Russia is failing. It is failing on the battlefield in Ukraine and we will not be intimidated. We just discussed how we keep NATO strong and Estonia secure. NATO is with you in the air. You mentioned it. Allied fighter jets at Ämari help protect the skies. On September 1st, Turkish jets scrambled from Ämari after a drone crossed Estonia's border. And that is the mission doing its job. Across NATO's eastern flank, we are strengthening our integrated air and missile defence so that there is greater protection against the full range of airborne threats. NATO will keep this shield in place over Estonia, over the Baltic region and beyond. NATO is with you on the ground. Thank you for hosting the UK Forward Land Forces at Tapa. And since July, the 1st German-Netherlands Corps has held tactical command for the land defense of Estonia and Latvia. And NATO is with you at sea, where Baltic Sentry continues to stand guard against potential threats, including to our critical undersea infrastructure. We are with you, and it is clear that you are with NATO too, making crucial contributions to our collective defense. you host the Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence you host a DIANA national hub your forces train hard including an exercise Spring Storm you don't just rely on the alliance Estonia strengthens it you are leading on defense investment core defense spending this year is indeed above five percent of GDP among the highest in the whole of NATO Estonia doesn't just meet commitment it sets the standards on Ukraine you have shown exceptional leadership since 2022 more than 850 million euros in military assistance and several thousand Ukrainian soldiers trained you remain committed to support Ukraine with at least 0.25 percent of GDP and in January Tallinn will host the Ukraine Recovery Conference this is a clear signal that Estonia's commitment to Ukraine goes beyond military support it is about helping to rebuild what Russia has destroyed strengthening Ukraine's institutions and securing Ukraine's future but with winter coming and with Russia's aggression unrelenting allies need to do more especially in support of air defense Russia continues its attacks on Ukrainian civilians and it continues its hybrid campaign against NATO allies. The arson at Milrem Robotics, which Estonia attributed to the Russian special services, is part of that campaign. Putin is trying to weaken our resolve and stop our support for Ukraine. But Russia is failing. It is failing on the battlefield in Ukraine and we will not be intimidated. Prime Minister, dear Kaja Kallas, Estonia is doing its share for the Alliance and more than its share for Ukraine. I want to thank you for your leadership and for all that Estonia is doing. Now we will take questions. Please state your name and media outlet and indicate whom your question is addressed to. Thank you. Tarmo Mayberg, TV3, and questions to both of you. As you mentioned, Europe has seen a significant rise of so-called hybrid attacks with links to Russia. Just yesterday, British MI5 Director General stated that Russia remains aggressor number one. the Russian military and intelligence services are escalating their attempts end of quote is it isn't it time to say Russia is staging a shadow war against Europe and is a sponsor of terrorism such as Iran has been named also I would like to know Mr. Ritter you are widely known as a pragmatic politician but against Russia pragmatism is not the answer and And Russia's sabotage and hybrid attacks have not seen a concrete response from NATO. So how long is NATO willing to endure these attacks? And also, have you called Mr. Trump, considering the fact that SpaceX has downscaled the speed of Starlink for Ukrainians and Americans also? I say that this is a problematic case. Well, on that second question, I think the president was very clear yesterday when he had a short moment with the media leaving the White House for a campaign event when he said intelligence sharing has not stopped. On your first question, when it comes to all this hybrid and cyber and other stuff the Russians are doing, we have trained and prepared for this. We have all the response options we need. You will not always see them. They will not always be public. It will not always be tit for tat. Sometimes it will be symmetric, sometimes anti-symmetric. You have seen what we did with Baltic Sentry in reaction to the cutting of the undersea cable late December 2024 between Estonia and Finland. That led to the launch of Baltic Sentry in January 2025. So that was visible. It will not always be visible what we are doing. But here's the main thing. We are stronger. Russia is not in a good place. these hybrid attacks and whatever it is are a sign of weakness what they love us to do is to talk about it the whole day and to be rattled and to have press conferences on it we're not going to do that we will react where we need to react again not always visible but the most important thing is that we will continue what we need to do stay calm carry on which means investing in defense but particularly making sure that ukraine has what it needs and continue what it needs to stay strong in the fight and therefore this announcement by this prime minister of estonia again supplying pearl which is this crucial program of u.s gear still from yesterday today and tomorrow going into ukraine paid for by europeans to support that is crucial it is the best answer we can give to any russian hybrid attack i will add to that that i absolutely do agree with mark that reason why russia is using hybrid warfare and the question is what is hybrid because at the time usually is a car. They are using this kind of hybrid operations is that Putin is losing this kind of cognitive warfare or image warfare. He said that he will be in three days. It was a special operation to be in Kiev. Yeah, you always almost lost, but it's fifty And when I was in the August in Ukraine, they said that this year, the numbers are that Russia has conquered about 900 square kilometers and Ukraine has liberated about 800. So you can see that how it's going. It's not going well for Putin. And at the same time, the warehouses are burning, Ust-Luga, Primorsk are burning, different kind of refineries are burning, and also now data centers are burning, and probably some of the bots and Russian propaganda is going down. So that's why he's using this kind of scare tactics all over Europe and as Mark said, that for us, it's a sign of weakness, not a sign of confidence, because the message is that he tries us to think about ourselves, not about Ukraine, but we're still delivering to Ukraine. We're delivering weapons, we're delivering support. So that is the main message, that we are supporting Ukraine more, not less, even though Russia is doing these kind of hybrid operations. Let's take the next question. I'm Ryan Korpi from Finnish National Broadcasting company. Estonia's foreign minister has said recently in an interview that NATO could cut off Russia's access to the Gulf of Finland and further Baltic Sea within hours following possible Russian attack on the alliance. Is this an agreed NATO position, this kind of measure including Finland's, or is it Estonia's national assessment And regarding to that, Zakhar Grinkevich gave a speech on the theory of victory in Warsaw. What is your assessment of threat? Is Russia foolish enough to consider attacking any of NATO countries? Thank you. We don't think so, and we see no imminent threat against NATO territory. And if we would see a build-up, we will react to it. But the message from General Grinkevich, the Supreme Allied Commander, in his speech on Monday was totally clear. And the message is this, that we will defend every inch of Allied territory, whether people are living there or not, whether it is close to Paris, close to Tallinn, close to Washington, or close to Ottawa. We will defend every inch of Allied territory. We have all the plans in place. We are prepared for that. We have the forward land forces all along the eastern flank of NATO. so that message is clear of course what we will exactly do if the Russians are stupid enough to attack and what we will then do you will see then so I will not go into that but you can be assured we will defend ourselves but it was also clear that this is a defensive alliance we will never ever mount an attack towards anyone else because that is not in our interest we are a defensive alliance we want to protect our way of life our interests, our values, our cultures our countries That's what we are here to do, not to attack anyone.