Estonian Defence Minister Pevkur resigns over failed Ukraine ammunition deal
Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur announced his resignation on 2 September amid a scandal over an EU-funded artillery shell procurement for Ukraine that suffered prolonged delivery delays and quality problems. The Estonian Prosecutor's Office has opened a criminal investigation, and Estonian defence authorities have filed a lawsuit against the supplier.
Key points
- Hanno Pevkur announced his resignation on 2 September during an ETV television interview, after serving as defence minister since 2022 — the longest tenure in the post since Estonia regained independence in 1991.
- Estonia paid roughly 70 million euros in advance to Indian companies that had previously sold no ammunition, as part of an EU-financed deal to buy 155mm artillery shells for Ukraine.
- The Estonian Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal investigation into the procurement, citing prolonged delivery delays and poor-quality products; Estonian defence authorities also filed a lawsuit against the supplier.
- Pevkur acknowledged receiving the contracts from the State Centre for Defence Investments (RKIK) but said he did not personally read them, and cited the National Audit Office's findings as grounds for political responsibility.
- Leaders of the Estonia 200, Social Democratic Party and Isamaa parliamentary groups publicly called for Pevkur's resignation; Prime Minister Kristen Michal said he did not see personal fault but that political responsibility could still apply.
- The procurement was carried out under the Czech-led ammunition initiative for Ukraine, which reportedly shrank from 18 participating countries in December 2025 to nine after Czech PM Andrej Babiš took office.
- In August Estonia's governing coalition lost its Riigikogu majority after two MPs left their parties; opposition parties are calling for early elections.
Why it matters
A senior minister in one of Ukraine's most vocal military backers has stepped down over a failed, EU-financed effort to deliver 155mm artillery shells to Kyiv at a time of acute ammunition shortage. The case highlights the risks of relying on little-tested intermediaries — here, Indian companies with no prior track record — and comes as the broader Czech-led ammunition initiative is also losing participants. The political fallout deepens instability in Estonia after the governing coalition lost its Riigikogu majority in August.
What happened
On the evening of Wednesday 2 September, Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur told ETV's Aktuaalne kaamera programme that he was resigning, hours after facing sharp questions from MPs at an open hearing of a special Riigikogu committee on a National Audit Office report exposing systemic problems in defence-sector accounting. The resignation is tied to a procurement run by the Estonian Centre for Defence Investments (RKIK): in 2024 the agency paid around 70 million euros in advance to Indian companies that had never previously sold ammunition, in an EU-financed effort to secure 155mm shells for Ukraine. Deliveries were delayed and the products proved substandard; the Estonian Prosecutor's Office has opened a criminal investigation and Estonian defence authorities have filed suit against the supplier. Pevkur said he bore political responsibility for the sector even though he had no personal fault, acknowledging that RKIK had given him the contracts but that he had not personally read them. Leaders of Estonia 200, the Social Democrats and Isamaa had already called for him to go, and Prime Minister Kristen Michal, who said he saw no personal fault, scheduled a cabinet meeting for the morning of 3 September to receive the auditor general's report.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Ukrainian outlets frame the story as a procurement scandal centred on Ukraine: Estonian authorities paid 70 million euros in advance to unproven Indian companies to buy shells for Ukraine, against the backdrop of an EU-financed push to replenish Kyiv's 155mm stocks and an active Estonian criminal investigation. Coverage stresses the link to the Czech ammunition initiative, the National Audit Office report and the special Riigikogu committee hearing, and treats Pevkur's resignation as the political consequence of those findings.
Background
Pevkur had held the defence portfolio since 2022 and was described as the longest-serving defence minister since Estonia regained independence in 1991. The procurement was part of the Czech-led ammunition initiative for Ukraine, which according to the synthesis shrank from 18 participating countries in December 2025 to nine after Czech PM Andrej Babiš took office. In August Estonia's governing coalition — the Reform Party and Estonia 200 — lost its Riigikogu majority after two MPs left their parties, and opposition parties began calling for early elections.