Finland grants Estonia permission to re-export D-30 howitzers to Ukraine

The Government of Finland granted Estonia permission to re-export D-30 towed howitzers to Ukraine.

This is stated in the export license from the Ministry of Defense of Finland.

In the government’s decision, Estonia received permission from Finland not only to export 122-mm D-30 howitzers, but also its ammunition.

The number of howitzers and ammunition is not disclosed.

“The supplies recipient is the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Estonia has stated that the number of weapons exported is confidential,” reads the statement of the Finnish government

Estonia needs Finland’s permission because it’s related to the weapons it has purchased from Finland. The permission of Germany, from which Finland received weapons at one time, was also required.

Previously, Estonia offered to supply Ukraine with 122mm Soviet-made D30 howitzers purchased in Finland in 2009 (before that, Germany owned them).

For the supply, it was necessary to obtain the consent of the former owners of the weapons.

In April 2022, it became known that the Republic of Estonia had transferred a batch of lethal weapons, including 122-mm howitzers, to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Previously, in January 2022, amid the Russian invasion threat, Estonia intended to hand over 122-mm howitzers to Ukraine.

However, this step required the approval of Berlin, as the howitzers were issued by the German Democratic Republic. Official Berlin has repeatedly refused to supply Ukraine with weapons, amid strained relations between Kyiv and Moscow.

Artillery guns were produced in the GDR-era (German Democratic Republic), and in the 1990s, the authorities of united Germany sold them to Finland.