Finland preparing new defense aid package for Ukraine

The President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, said this at the Riga meeting of Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) leaders, Ukrinform reports with reference to Yle.

According to the president, support for Ukraine must continue until the peace the nation deserves settles. At the same time, Niinistö noted that it is difficult to predict when this time may come.

"Today among the JEF leaders, we discussed our unwavering commitment to support Ukraine and how to improve the security in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea region," Niinistö wrote on Twitter.

Journalists asked the heads of state what they thought about the French president's idea of providing security guarantees to Russia. This idea was rejected, in particular, by the leaders of the Netherlands, Lithuania, and Estonia. The Finnish president showed no support either.

"It’s Russia's neighbors who need security guarantees. If Russia provides security guarantees to its neighbors, guarantees of a similar scale can be considered," Niinisto said.

JEF includes Finland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Estonia.

As reported by Ukrinform, President Volodymyr Zelensky in an online address to the participants of the meeting of the leaders of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) called on international partners to increase the supply of defense weapons to Ukraine, in particular, air defense systems, tanks, artillery, and munitions.

Photo: Emmi Korhonen / Lehtikuva