'Just peace' in Ukraine unlikely: Finland's president

Any deal to stop the fighting in Ukraine is unlikely to meet all conditions for a just peace, Finland's President Alexander Stubb said in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.

European countries are working to ensure that Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity were preserved, Stubb told Finnish television channel MTV3.

"But the reality is that peace can be either good, bad, or some kind of compromise," he said.

"The reality is that also we Finns must prepare ourselves for the moment when peace is achieved, and that all the conditions for a just peace that we have talked about so much over the past four years are unlikely to be met."

He did not elaborate on what an unjust peace would mean for Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometre (830-mile) border with Russia.

The Nordic country shut its eastern border with Russia in December 2023, as tensions mounted between the two nations over the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine.

Stubb, who has close ties with both US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the coming days and weeks would determine whether diplomatic efforts to end the war would yield results.

Stubb also said he believed the United States was seeking to benefit economically from peace in Ukraine.

"That is the reality. We are in a situation where the United States is also investing in various deals in peace mediation, such as mineral reserves in Ukraine. And it may be that the solution related to the regions is also linked to trade in some way," he said.

He was sceptical whether Russia would approve the latest version of the plan to end the fighting, but said "we are moving toward some kind of ceasefire and peace".

Stubb said the original 28-point US plan revealed last month had been frustrating to read.

Reflecting many of Moscow's maximalist demands, the original plan prompted accusations that Russia was involved in drafting it, which Washington has denied.