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Finnish president defends calling Putin, saying ‘ending the war requires direct discussions’
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Finland’s president and Norway’s prime minister have spoken on the phone with Russian president Vladimir Putin, officials said.
Russian media said the call covered topics including the Ukraine war and specifically a local ceasefire in Oleshky, which began on Tuesday morning.
Finnish president Alexander Stubb defended holding talks with Ukraine’s aggressor, saying “ending the war requires direct discussions”. He described the call as “frank and substantive” and said that as countries neighbouring Russia, “this war will have a direct impact on our and broader European security”.
But the call has already brought criticism from other European leaders, with Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen quoted as saying she was “very sceptical” of such outreach.
Meanwhile, Russian strikes on Kyiv overnight killed one person and injured eight, damaging medical facilities including an intensive care unit, according to mayor Vitali Klitschko.
The attack came hours before the temporary ceasefire was due to begin in Russian-occupied Oleshky, in southern Kherson Oblast, to allow humanitarian aid deliveries amid severe shortages of food, water and medicine. The White House says the truce was brokered by first lady Melania Trump.
Russia’s veteran foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that the leaders of Finland and Norway said nothing new about Ukraine in their conversation with Russian president Vladimir Putin earlier in the day.
He added that the conflict in Ukraine will continue and is likely to escalate.
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said earlier than Finland and Norway had told Putin that the security of NATO’s northern and eastern flank was key and non-negotiable.
The phone call by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere was a bid to influence the diplomatic process at a time when US President Donald Trump has shifted his position in favour of Russia and US ties with Ukraine have hit their lowest point in 18 months.
The Kremlin’s readout of the call did not suggest that Putin had signalled any compromise from previously stated positions.
Russia committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine by intentionally attacking energy infrastructure, leaving millions of people without electricity and heat in freezing temperatures, a UN-backed inquiry has found.
The inquiry also found evidence that Russia recruited men from 29 countries into its armed forces “through deception or coercion” to fight in Ukraine in violation of international law.
The men, age 18 to 60, “came mostly from vulnerable and marginalized communities, with a poor economic background and a low education level,” it said.
The independent commission of inquiry was authorised by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to investigate human rights violations shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Its report to the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee on Monday was its first focusing on the impact of Russia’s wide-ranging attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Romanian President Nicusor Dan on Tuesday called an alleged Russian sabotage plot last month a “grave violation” of the NATO member’s sovereignty and security.
Dan’s remarks came a day after the Romanian Intelligence Service said it identified a Russia-coordinated “sabotage network” linked to the fire in central Brasov County on September 14.
The fire damaged the premises of several commercial entities, authorities said.
“I condemn, in the strongest possible terms, any involvement by the Russian Federation in acts of sabotage on Romanian territory,” Dan said in a post on Facebook.
“Such actions are unacceptable and constitute a grave violation of our country’s sovereignty and security.”
The newly-established ceasefire in the Russian-held Ukrainian town of Oleshky will continue until 22:59 Moscow Standard Time on November 1, Russian agency RIA reports.
A maintenance centre for Lockheed Martin-made Patriot interceptor missiles will be established in Poland, deputy defence minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka said on Tuesday.
“Four countries competed for the European location of this investment: alongside Poland – Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway… This success was not a given. It is the result of many months of negotiations and the hard work of the entire team,” she wrote on social media.
Russia and Ukraine have started a localised ceasefire to allow for a humanitarian operation to begin in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky, both sides said on Tuesday.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Telegram it stopped shelling in the direction of the Ukrainian city of Kherson from 4am Moscow time (0100 GMT) to prepare for the humanitarian operation in Oleshky, just across the Dnipro River from Kherson.
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s parliament commissioner for human rights, confirmed in a Facebook post the ceasefire has started at the same time.
“As head of the Ukrainian negotiating team, I confirm that the Ukrainian side is honouring its commitments,” he wrote.
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a localised ceasefire around the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine, an arrangement that will enable aid deliveries and allow evacuations from a frontline town suffering acute shortages of food and medicine.
The leaders of Finland and Norway told Russian president Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that attacks on Ukraine’s energy and infrastructure needed to be de-escalated, according to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.
Finnish president Alexander Stubb and Norwegian premier Jonas Gahr Støre “clearly told the Russian leader that real de-escalation steps are needed regarding our energy sector and infrastructure,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram after talking to the two allies.
Ukraine has been waiting nearly a month for US defence secretary Pete Hegseth to approve missile supplies, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday.
“We have been waiting for nearly a month for Mr Hegseth to sign off on missiles for Patriots and NASAMS. I instructed our team to raise this with the American side once again,” he said on X.
Kyiv is seeking interceptor missiles from the US, European countries and other partners to strengthen its air defences ahead of winter.
Patriot systems are particularly important for intercepting Russian ballistic missiles. The delay concerns supplies backed by Ukraine’s allies, with Washington’s approval required for transfers of US-made weapons.
Finland’s president and Norway’s prime minister spoke on the phone with Russian president Vladimir Putin, officials said Tuesday.
The call, confirmed by the offices of Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish president Alexander Stubb, followed an 20 October meeting in Oslo between the two Nordic leaders, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
The call was held in consultation with Ukraine, according to the official statements by the two Nordic countries. Stubb and Støre initiated the call to discuss the war and upcoming trilateral talks involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States that are expected to take place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in November.
The two European leaders spoke on behalf of their own countries and not the whole of Europe, the statements said.
“The discussion was frank and substantive,” Stubb said. “We are neighbouring countries to Russia. The outcome of this war will have a direct impact on our and the broader European security. Ending the war requires direct discussions.”
“The war comes with enormous human and material costs,” Støre said. “The suffering and destruction will impact generations. In the call we stressed the importance of de-escalation.”
Russia has suspended strikes towards Ukraine’s Kherson city as a local ceasefire began in Russian-occupied Oleshky on Tuesday, according to Russia’s defence ministry.
The truce is intended to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries and civilian evacuations from the town, which lies across the Dnipro River from Kherson.
The arrangement is limited to the Oleshky area and does not constitute a wider ceasefire in the war.
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