Security | Stubb on his meeting with Zelensky: “I sensed that he was probably a little more optimistic”

Republic president Alexander Stubb assessed the President of Ukraine to Volodymyr Zelensky to be a little more optimistic about the war situation now than during the previous meetings of the presidents.

However, we are still relatively far from peace talks, Stubb estimates.

Stubbs opened on Friday at the Helsinki Security Forum event, among other things, his meeting with Zelensky in the United States in connection with the UN High Level Week.

“I sensed that he was probably a bit more optimistic than he certainly was when we first met in April,” Stubb told a Financial Times reporter Henry Foy in an interview on the stage of the event.

More optimistically with the posturing, Stubb was referring to Zelensky’s capacity to get what he wants. That means, for example, funding, ammunition, military supplies and possibly eventually permission to strike with the allies’ long-range missiles also deep into Russian territory.

“In that sense, I also came out of that meeting optimistic,” Stubb said.

He described that he did not sense any fatigue from Zelensky. He said that he had now met a somewhat refreshed president.

Stubb said that he did not sense actual war weariness among the West either. However, everyone is aware that the US elections are approaching.

Peace talks about an early start, Stubb was not optimistic.

He said he was a little more optimistic after the peace forum in Switzerland in the summer.

“I still feel that we are quite far away. The good news, however, is that militarily, Ukraine is in a much better situation than where it was in June.”

However, the situation is still critical, Stubb said.

When asked Regarding Ukraine’s NATO path and security guarantees, Stubb expressed faith in Ukrainians. Membership is happening, he said.

He believed in an order in which Ukraine gets EU membership first and NATO membership later.