Finland’s Stubb Credits Trump for Advancing Ukraine Peace Talks, Downplays Russia Invasion Fears

As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns that Russia could expand its war beyond Ukraine, Finnish President Alexander Stubb is offering a more measured assessment. Finland, he says, is ready to confront Moscow, while crediting President Donald Trump with intensifying efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict.

“I think we’re certainly in a better place than we were before President Trump started,” Stubb told News Outlet in an on-camera interview on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. “He’s doubled down in the past year and a half to try to find a solution for peace with negotiators such as Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and many others.”

Stubb, who has played a close role in the diplomatic push, said he and Norway’s prime minister have operated largely “in the back office,” passing information between Ukraine, the United States and European governments.

“I think he’s really working hard and hopefully we’ll get a solution,” Stubb said.

The remarks came during a particularly intense diplomatic week in New York, where the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East dominated discussions.

Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in New York during the U.N. General Assembly as Washington continued trying to restart negotiations with Moscow. Zelenskyy said achieving peace remained Ukraine’s top priority and thanked Trump for dispatching two envoys to Kyiv after they had also met with officials in Moscow.

After the meeting, News Outlet asked Zelenskyy whether Russia might invade or attack another European country in the near future.

“That’s why the risk of offensive by drones, missiles or land operation is very high against other countries who are bordering Russia or Belarus,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin, having failed to meet his military goals in Ukraine, could try to destabilize other parts of Europe in an effort to weaken Western backing for Kyiv. He cited drone incursions and disruptions in several European countries as evidence that Moscow is already seeking to intimidate European populations and gauge how governments respond.

Asked what European nations should do in response to the expanding threat, Zelenskyy gave a blunt answer.

“Respond. Always respond. It’s not about the war. If you don’t respond, Russians, they will go further,” he said.

Stubb, however, adopted a distinctly less alarmed tone when questioned about Zelenskyy’s warning that Russia could eventually target another European country, including Finland, which shares the longest border with Russia.

“As commander-in-chief in Finland, I sit on all the relevant information and I just don’t see a factual basis for it,” Stubb said.

Still, Stubb emphasized that Moscow has not abandoned efforts to target Europe.

He drew a distinction between the “kinetic” fighting Russia is conducting in Ukraine and a wider “hybrid” campaign across Europe. That campaign, he said, includes cyberattacks, sabotage and damage to undersea cables in the Baltic Sea.

“We have to see this as a campaign,” he said. “Russia tries to intimidate Europe, scare us and get into our heads.”

His response reflected a distinctly Finnish approach: “cool, calm and collected, take a sauna and a nice bath and deal with it.”

Stubb said Finland, a country with a population of 5.6 million, can afford that attitude precisely because it has spent decades preparing for a potential threat from its eastern neighbor.

“We are calm because we are prepared,” he said.

He pointed to Finland’s mandatory military service, reserve force, artillery, long-range capabilities and extensive network of civilian shelters. The Finnish Defence Forces puts Finland’s wartime military strength at 280,000 personnel, with additional reservists available if needed.

That deterrent received another boost just days before Stubb traveled to New York. Finland is acquiring 64 F-35A fighter jets to replace its F/A-18 Hornet fleet under a procurement decision announced by the Finnish government.

The first two F-35s intended for operations inside Finland arrived at the Lapland Air Wing in Rovaniemi on Sept. 18, according to a Finnish Defence Forces press release.

“We have obligatory military service. I did mine, my son did his. We have women who do it voluntarily. We have over 60 F-18s. We just bought 64 F-35s, the two first of which arrived. We have long-range missiles, air, land and sea. We have the capability to mobilize 280,000 troops within days in a conflictual situation. On top of that, we have land mines. And we have the biggest artillery in Europe together with Poland… On top of that, we have civilian shelters for over 4.4 million people out of 5.6.”

“We don’t have them because we’re worried about Sweden,” Stubb joked of Finland’s military capabilities. “We have them because we see a security threat coming from Russia.”

He said that level of preparedness, combined with Finland’s NATO membership, makes a direct Russian attack unlikely. Finland became NATO’s 31st member on April 4, 2023, after abandoning its longstanding military non-alignment following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“We feel that we’re very prepared, and that gives us a strong enough … deterrent that we don’t believe that Russia is going to test a country like Finland,” Stubb said. “And of course the icing on the cake is that we are now security providers in the Alliance NATO.”

Stubb also used his Sept. 22 address to the U.N. General Assembly to advocate for continued support for Kyiv, calling the “Coalition of the Willing” supporting Ukraine “particularly close to my heart.” He said the coalition was working toward a “just and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with the U.N. Charter.”

Stubb made additional news on Ukraine during UNGA week, when he urged SpaceX owner Elon Musk to extend Starlink coverage so Ukrainian forces could use the satellite network in areas containing Russian ballistic missile launchers, including inside Russia. He argued that doing so could help Ukraine target launchers firing missiles at Ukrainian cities.

Yet Ukraine was only one piece of what Stubb described as an increasingly interconnected global security crisis.

Asked about Trump’s call at the U.N. for countries to support efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Stubb was unequivocal.

“I agree, Iran should not obtain nuclear weapons,” he told News Outlet, adding that Tehran should not use proxies or be able to produce missiles.

Stubb also argued that the conflicts involving Russia and Iran can no longer be viewed in isolation, alleging that Moscow is providing intelligence to Tehran that Iran has used against U.S. military bases in the Gulf, while Iranian weapons have been supplied to Russia for use against Ukraine.

“We’re going in this merry-go-round where every bit of the conflict is linked to another,” Stubb said. “The sooner we can end both, the better.”

Trump used his Sept. 22 U.N. General Assembly address to call for Iran’s economic isolation and reiterate that Tehran should not obtain a nuclear weapon, while warning of further US military action if a peace agreement is not reached, according to Reuters. 

For Stubb, the proliferation of conflicts — from Ukraine and Iran to Gaza, Yemen and Sudan — is testing a diplomatic system already struggling to keep pace.

“It’s not a zero-sum game,” he said. “We have to deal with a multiplicity of conflicts right now, unfortunately.”

And for Trump, he added, that means “working around the clock.”