Finnish President Alexander Stubb credited President Donald Trump with reinvigorating efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Moscow could extend its aggression beyond Ukraine’s borders.
“I think we’re certainly in a better place than we were before President Trump started,” Stubb told Fox News Digital 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 said he and Norway’s prime minister have been working largely “in the back office,” passing information among Ukraine, the United States and European governments. “I think he’s really working hard and hopefully we’ll get a solution,” he said.
The remarks came during a diplomatically heavy week in New York dominated by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Trump and Zelenskyy met during UNGA week as Washington pressed to revive negotiations with Moscow. Zelenskyy said peace remained Ukraine’s priority and thanked Trump for sending Witkoff and Kushner to Kyiv following talks the two envoys also held in Moscow.
Asked about the possibility Russia could attack another European country, Zelenskyy did not mince words. “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,” he said, arguing that Russian President Vladimir Putin, stymied on the battlefield in Ukraine, could try to sow instability elsewhere in Europe to pressure Western governments into scaling back support for Kyiv.
“Respond. Always respond. It’s not about the war. If you don’t respond, Russians, they will go further,” Zelenskyy said when asked what European nations should do.
Stubb: “I just don’t see a factual basis for it”
Stubb, whose country shares the longest border with Russia among NATO members, took a far cooler view when asked about the prospect of a Russian attack on Finland. “As commander-in-chief in Finland, I sit on all the relevant information and I just don’t see a factual basis for it,” he said.
That doesn’t mean Russia has backed off targeting Europe, he added, drawing a distinction between the “kinetic” war in Ukraine and a broader “hybrid” campaign across the continent involving cyberattacks, sabotage and damage to undersea cables in the Baltic Sea. “We have to see this as a campaign,” Stubb said. “Russia tries to intimidate Europe, scare us and get into our heads.”
His prescription: “cool, calm and collected, take a sauna and a nice bath and deal with it.”
Stubb said Finland, a nation of 5.6 million people, can afford that composure because it has spent decades preparing for exactly this kind of threat. “We are calm because we are prepared,” he said, citing mandatory military service, a large reserve force, artillery, long-range strike capability and an extensive network of civilian shelters. The Finnish Defence Forces put the country’s wartime military strength at 280,000 personnel, with additional reservists available.
Days before traveling to New York, Finland moved to bolster that deterrent further, acquiring 64 F-35A fighter jets to replace its aging F/A-18 Hornet fleet. The first two F-35s destined 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,” Stubb said.
“We don’t have them because we’re worried about Sweden,” he joked. “We have them because we see a security threat coming from Russia.”
Finland joined NATO as its 31st member on April 4, 2023, abandoning decades of military non-alignment after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Stubb said the combination of national preparedness and alliance membership makes a direct Russian attack unlikely. “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,” he said. “And of course the icing on the cake is that we are now security providers in the Alliance NATO.”
Beyond Ukraine
In his Sept. 22 address to the U.N. General Assembly, Stubb also spoke in support of continued backing for Kyiv, calling the “Coalition of the Willing” supporting Ukraine “particularly close to my heart” and saying it was working toward a “just and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with the U.N. Charter.” During the same week, 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, arguing it could help Ukraine target launchers firing on Ukrainian cities.
Asked about Trump’s call at the U.N. for countries to help prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Stubb was unequivocal. “I agree, Iran should not obtain nuclear weapons,” he said, adding that Tehran should not use proxies or be allowed to produce missiles.
He argued the conflicts involving Russia and Iran can no longer be viewed separately, alleging Moscow has provided 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,” he said. “The sooner we can end both, the better.”
Trump used his Sept. 22 address to call for Iran’s economic isolation, reiterate that Tehran should not obtain a nuclear weapon, and warn of further U.S. military action absent a peace agreement, according to Reuters.
For Stubb, the spread of conflicts across Ukraine, Iran, Gaza, Yemen and Sudan is straining a diplomatic system already stretched thin. “It’s not a zero-sum game,” he said. “We have to deal with a multiplicity of conflicts right now, unfortunately.” For Trump, he added, that means “working around the clock.”
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