KIEV, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The leaders of eight Nordic and Baltic countries (NB8) issued a joint statement calling for Ukraine and Europe's participation in potential peace talks on ending the Ukrainian crisis, Ukrainian media reported Monday.

Ukraine must receive strong security guarantees during the talks and Europe should demonstrate its leadership, said the statement signed by all NB8 leaders.

The leaders will engage with all NATO allies and EU member states to "achieve peace through strength," said the document.

The Nordic-Baltic countries, which have provided Ukraine with over 26 billion euros (about 27.2 billion U.S. dollars) in military, financial and humanitarian support, reaffirmed their commitment to more assistance.

"We pledge to provide more support to Ukraine, including air defense and ammunition. We pledge to invest more in Ukraine's defense industry. And we pledge to provide equipment and training for a scalable brigade-sized unit," it said.

The statement follows a similar one issued earlier this week by the EU and several European leaders, media reported. Enditem

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