Finnish Prime Minister believes Ukraine should match or surpass Russia’s military capabilities because Moscow is a “permanent threat”
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo urges Donald Trump to authorize Ukraine to use American-made weapons against targets on Russian territory.
In an interview with , Petteri Orpo argues that Ukraine must be equipped to match or surpass Russia’s capabilities since “Putin only believes in power”. He also warned that Russia is a “permanent threat” to European security and, as such, the president of the United States should give Ukraine the weapons it needs to defend itself and bring Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.
Despite European pressure, Trump has been hesitant to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles, but . The North American president claims that the use of the Tomahawk requires “a year of intense training”, as the missiles are “highly complex”, and that this would represent a lot of waiting time.
For Petteri Orpo, however, the balance of forces is essential to force the Kremlin to negotiate, stressing: “If we want to stop the war, we have to be at the same level or even stronger than Russia.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky argues that Russia retreated from peace as soon as Trump took cruise missiles off the table and argues that Putin only showed interest in negotiating when Trump suggested allowing the use of American missiles.
The Finnish appeal comes at a time when Trump announced new Russian companies Rosneft and Lukoil, a step that the American president described as decisive in putting pressure on Moscow. “We hope they don’t last too long. We hope the war is resolved,” Trump said.
Finland, which shares a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia, has been one of the strongest voices advocating robust military support for Ukraine. The country gained influence with Washington after Finnish President Alexander Stubb cultivated a close relationship with Trump on the golf course.
Meanwhile, European leaders are preparing to move forward with a plan to use frozen Russian financial assets, around 140 billion euros, to finance a “reparation loan” to Ukraine. France leads the effort for money to be spent on European weapons, while other countries, such as Sweden, defend freedom of choice for Kiev.
Petteri Orpo supports a coordinated approach: “I don’t think total freedom is the best way. We give loans and therefore we need to do it in good cooperation with Ukraine. We need to know that they will use this huge amount of money responsibly.”
The Finnish Prime Minister also defends that the investment serves to strengthen the European defense industry. “I hope they can buy more and more weapons from Europe”, he says, although he recognizes that Europe does not have all the capabilities and weapons they need and therefore “they should also be allowed to buy from the USA, if necessary”.
For Orpo, sending weapons and using frozen Russian assets would send an unequivocal message to Moscow that goes beyond Tomahawk missiles: “If we can find a solution to heavily finance Ukraine and a long-term solution using the frozen assets, it will be such a strong message to Putin that he will understand that he cannot win this war. This could be a turning point.”
