HALVALA, Finland\u00a0\u2014\u00a0A ceasefire in Ukraine is unlikely before the spring and European allies need to keep up support despite a corruption scandal that has engulfed Kyiv, President Alexander Stubb of Finland told the Associated Press. <\/p>\n
Europe, meanwhile, will require \u2018\u2019sisu,\u2019\u2019 a Finnish word meaning endurance, resilience and grit, to get through the winter months, he said, as Russia continues its hybrid attacks and information war across the continent.<\/p>\n
Stubb also needs that quality as one of the key European interlocutors between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. As the leader of one of Europe\u2019s smaller countries, but one that shares a 830-mile border with Russia, he is well aware of what\u2019s at stake. <\/p>\n
In the 1940s, after two wars with the Soviet Union, Finland lost about 10% of its territory to Moscow and agreed to become militarily neutral. But Finland\u2019s losses were much less than they could have been as Finnish troops displayed sisu and inflicted heavy losses on the Soviet army, despite being vastly outnumbered. <\/p>\n
Finland\u2019s neutral stance only reversed after Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when the Finns joined NATO. Stubb leverages his good relationship with Trump \u2014 the two men have played golf together and speak regularly \u2014 to argue the case for Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can explain to President Trump what Finland went through or how I see the situation on the battlefield, or how do you deal with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. And then, you know, if he accepts one out of 10 ideas, that\u2019s good,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Stubb spoke to the AP on Saturday at a military base north of the capital, Helsinki, where he observed Finnish volunteers take part in defense training. Wearing a jacket with the word \u201csisu\u201d emblazoned across the back, he watched as volunteers practiced evacuating wounded soldiers from a conflict zone in freezing temperatures. <\/p>\n
Stubb told AP that Zelensky must deal quickly with allegations of kickbacks and embezzlement in his government, saying the scandal plays into the hands of Russia. Nonetheless, he urged European leaders to look at boosting financial and military support for Kyiv, which is also facing creeping gains by Russia on the battlefield.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not very optimistic about achieving a ceasefire or the beginning of peace negotiations, at least this year,\u201d Stubb said, adding it would be good to \u201cget something going\u201d by March.<\/p>\n
The three big questions on the road to a ceasefire are security guarantees for Ukraine, rebuilding its economy and coming to some sort of understanding about territorial claims, he said.<\/p>\n
To bring peace to Ukraine, Stubb said, Trump and European leaders need to maximize pressure on Russia and on Putin in order to change his strategic thinking. Putin \u201cbasically wants to deny the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,\u201d aims that have not altered since the war began nearly four years ago, Stubb said.<\/p>\n
To do this, he suggested using tools such as the hundreds of billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets held in Europe as collateral to fund Ukraine, as well as increasing military pressure on Moscow.<\/p>\n