Shawn Cofran
Royal correspondent
PA Media
Prince of Wales took his seat in the Challenger 2 Tank when he visited Tapa Camp
If the royal visit is about sending a message, then the photo of the Prince of Wales in a tank near the Russian border must be one of the most direct.
Prince William has come to Estonia to support the British Army, the biggest deployment of the current British Army overseas, defending the Baltic Sea from the threat of Russia.
On Friday, in a frozen, cold, muddy military training area, the prince saw soldiers and military equipment guard the east side of NATO.
The prince, dressed in his military uniform, peered through the Challenger 2 tanks before an armored combat vehicle, signaling about the British commitment to stop attacks from Russia.
PA Media
Prince William met the troops on a visit to a key base in Estonia
During a two-day trip to Estonia, Prince William visited some of the 900 British forces of this multinational force, including soldiers from the Mercian Regiment, where the prince is in the colonel.
He saw the troops at the military training grounds in Tapa Camp, part of Operation Kaburitt, ready to ensure NATO’s “group security and defense” in this vulnerable Baltic region.
This shows how deterrent power against Russia appears to be on earth, and the bases change the balance of power.
Before Estonia regained independence in 1991, it was a Soviet air defense hub, with MIG fighters poised to take over the West.
Currently, the Estonian military and their NATO allies are training here to prevent Russian invasions, and their positions have been reversed.
Besides riding in the Challenger 2 tank, the prince saw warrior armored vehicles, French Griffon fighting vehicles, multiple launch rocket systems, and Trojan carriages to clean obstacles.
PA Media
Prince William received a warm welcome from the locals of Tallinn
The war in Ukraine shows how quickly combat technology is changing, and when he visited a designer in Estonian capital Tallinn on Thursday, the prince saw a hydrogen-powered drone.
Hundreds of local Estonians waited in the cold to meet the Prince of Tallinn, waving and taking selfies on the railings. He is warmly welcomed by this little tech-savvy country and is increasingly dependent on his allies.
Estonia is a strong supporter of Ukraine, sharing a border with Russia and has been under Soviet control in the past. Around the capital, Ukrainian flags fly alongside Estonian blue, black and white tricolors.
Many Ukrainian families are evacuated to Estonia. When visiting Tallinn’s school for Ukrainian child refugees, Prince William praised Ukraine’s strength.
“The resilience of Ukraine is everywhere,” Prince William told students. “You have a very good spirit, a very good soul, that’s very important.”
