European countries must double their defense spending because of the war in Ukraine, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu has said, adding that his own country plans to increase spending on national defense to 3 percent of GDP, Reuters reported.

Reinsalu, along with his colleagues from several countries, visited Kyiv.

"We would like to see European countries doubling their defence expenditure in the time of the Ukrainian war and after the war, and we are going to spend 3% of our GDP on national defence," he said.

Reinsalu said the EU should also increase the level of funding it allocates to military support for Ukraine. "The European Union combined has supported around 0.2% of its GDP to military assistance to Ukraine and I made a pledge if we could reach 1% it would make a grand difference on the ground in changing the course of the war," he said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal tweeted that the visit by Reinsalu and six other ministers included discussions on tightening EU sanctions, rebuilding Ukraine's energy infrastructure, financial support and Ukraine's "Euro-Atlantic aspirations."