Arizona Tribune - Estonia PM says Russia incursions aim to distract EU from Ukraine: AFP interview

"Putin wants to have us talking about ourselves, not about Ukraine, not about helping Ukraine, not to push back Russia in Ukraine," Michal told AFP in an interview in Copenhagen.

EU leaders will discuss boosting their defences and support for Kyiv at talks in Denmark being held under heightened security after mysterious drone flights rattled the country.

Those incidents came after a series of high-profile airspace violations by Moscow in Russia's neighbour Estonia and in Poland had already frayed nerves in Europe.

Michal said he hoped the gathering in Copenhagen would send a strong message of "unity and resolve to back up Ukraine and never to let us be distracted on the main topic, which is the problem with Russia."

He urged his EU counterparts to support a new proposal from Brussels to use frozen Russian assets to fund a 140-billion-euro ($164-billion) loan to Ukraine.

The Russians "are the aggressors, they are killing innocent people, civilians. They are doing the damage, so they should be the ones to pay," he said.

Michal said that Putin's aggression has been a "miscalculation" as it has pushed Europe to get serious about arming itself in the face of the looming threat.

"Europe is much stronger than it was six months or one year ago," Michal said.

"Europe was a project of peace but without arms. Now, Europe will be a project of peace but with arms."

- 'Move faster' -

However, the Estonian leader still urged the EU to move more quickly on its efforts to rearm as it discusses bolstering key defences like anti-drone capabilities.

"We should move faster because, to be honest, starting to have new capabilities takes time," he said.

"Even though you are ramping up everything, it will probably take a year, maybe more to have new defence industries going."

One of the key priorities being pushed by Brussels is a so-called "drone wall" of defences to detect and ultimately shoot down Russian drones.

Michal said cheap drones posed a "big problem" and that his country would have ramped up its ability to counter them by the end of 2026.

"In Europe, I would say, hoping to be at the same timeline would be great, but I would say it probably takes a little bit more time," he said.

Nonetheless the Estonian leader insisted that "Europe was strong" and NATO had proved in his country and in Poland that it could cope with Russia's threats.

"We have certain capabilities we need to evolve -- but I would say that Europe and members of NATO are more than capable of defending themselves," he said.

Despite fears over the US involvement in Europe's defence waning under President Donald Trump, Michal said Washington had sent a strong signal of its backing after Moscow's incursions.

"This is an absolutely clear message to Russia, to everybody," he said.

"For us, they are good partners in security against Russia."

Th.Gonzalez--AT