If Putin wins in Ukraine, the US loses, Finnish President tells Trump

Finland’s President Alexander Stubb on Monday stated that the US will lose if Russia wins its struggle in Ukraine as fears mount in Europe about President Donald Trump’s intentions three years after Moscow’s invasion.

“The struggle in Ukraine isn’t solely about Ukrainian independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity – it’s about European safety, and it’s about American management,” Reuters quoted President Alexander Stubb as saying in an interview in Ukraine’s capital.

Stubb made these remarks on the sidelines of an occasion with 11 international leaders marking three years since Russia’s invasion, as Kyiv goals to strengthen assist from its allies whereas its relationship with its major backer, the US, stays unsure.

Stubb expressed confidence within the alliance’s power, noting that Finland, which joined Nato in 2023 after years of balancing its international coverage, considers itself a “safety supplier, not a safety shopper.”

“We simply doubled Nato’s border with Russia. We’ve got one of many largest militaries in Europe. We’ve at all times saved our defence expenditure up, and for an apparent cause, and that cause isn’t Stockholm, it’s Moscow.”

“If there’s an iota or an inkling of understanding that Putin wins this peace, then the US may have misplaced, so I believe we have to combat this to the bitter finish,” he stated when requested what his message to Trump can be.

Europe wants extra defence spending

Trump, who controls Nato’s strongest navy pressure, has questioned current U.S. navy commitments to the alliance, accusing Europe of not spending its fair proportion on defence.

“There’s positively a shift within the transatlantic alliance … the US, I believe appropriately, is placing some calls for on Europe of taking extra duty for its personal safety.”

“It’s time for the Europeans to step as much as the plate and have some pores and skin within the recreation, so there’s positively a shift. I’m not frightened,” he stated.

Within the interview, Stubb put ahead a broad imaginative and prescient for a peace plan in Ukraine in a number of phases.

The primary can be a pre-negotiation strengthening of Ukraine’s hand and pressuring of Russia, the second can be a ceasefire with safety ensures for Ukraine supported by Europe and backstopped by the US, and the third can be a peace course of which discusses points similar to territory, funds and reconstruction.

Stubb stated that Ukraine’s EU and Nato membership, in addition to Europe’s safety, needs to be handled as non-negotiable.

Requested about Finland’s potential function in any peacekeeping operation in Ukraine, the Finnish president stated it was far too early to speak about boots on the bottom.

“In any case, I’d a lot slightly see drones within the air. So I believe European assist will basically come extra from the air and the ocean than the land.”

With inputs from companies