Norway and Finland want a bigger role in ending Ukraine war - Zelenskyy

Talks between Støre, Stubb and Putin

According to the president, he spoke with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb overnight on October 27.

The conversations followed a meeting in Oslo and took place ahead of their call with Putin.

“We discussed the agenda. Essentially, we had a briefing in Oslo on the planned trilateral meeting of negotiating teams scheduled for November in Abu Dhabi. They wanted to discuss it with me first and then with the Russian leader. We spoke with them, but we didn’t make the conversation public because it was already nighttime,” Zelenskyy explained.

He recalled that talks with Putin took place on the morning of October 27, with each side presenting its position. As soon as the conversation ended, Stubb and Støre called Zelenskyy and briefed him on all the details.

“Essentially, they conveyed that there seemed to be a sense that the Russians were serious about meeting in Abu Dhabi. The agenda is expected to cover several issues: initial de-escalation steps, Ukraine’s main priorities, particularly security, and ending the war as a whole,” Zelenskyy stressed.

What Ukraine expects from the Abu Dhabi meeting

According to the president, Kyiv expects the technical teams’ meeting to produce results or at least make progress toward them. The main priorities include:

• De-escalation measures involving energy infrastructure and maritime security.

• Prisoner exchanges and bringing prisoners home.

• Discussing the format for a possible trilateral meeting between the leaders.

“This is our agenda, which we discussed with our American partners. Security guarantees for Ukraine are undoubtedly a key issue. We have made this request to the Americans and Europeans. Russia is raising the same issue, saying that it also needs security guarantees,” the president added.

Zelenskyy said Finland and Norway would also communicate with national security advisers from other European countries and other partners to brief them on the conversation.

He explained that preparations for a meeting in Brussels had involved a format bringing together the United States, EU leaders and the NATO secretary general. The discussions were expected to cover various issues and preparations for a trilateral meeting.

“For example, we could discuss what security guarantees might look like and how we envision them, then put everything in writing and prepare the agenda for the trilateral meeting. But, as I understand it, Washington has concerns related to the Middle East, so our American partners asked us to change the date so their representatives could be in Washington at that time,” Zelenskyy said.

The president stressed that Kyiv is now waiting for new proposals from Donald Trump’s team regarding the meeting.

Why Finland and Norway want talks with Putin

Zelenskyy said the initiative came from Støre and Stubb.

He noted that in their official statement, the two leaders made clear that Norway and Finland were representing their own countries.

As Zelenskyy explained, they are speaking not simply as European nations but as countries that border Russia.

“It is right that they share this information with all Europeans and discuss the agenda with Ukraine, Europe and the United States. They want to play a bigger role. We have very good relations with these countries. They genuinely help us, both through the EU and through Europe more broadly, since Norway is not an EU member.

“When it comes to the security guarantees Ukraine wants to discuss and the security guarantees Russia says it needs, they see this as a serious challenge for themselves as Russia’s neighbors, as European countries and as important partners of ours. They want to be more involved,” Zelenskyy stressed.

The president said he viewed the initiative positively and supported their approach to communicating with the Kremlin.

Against this backdrop, he recalled that the meeting in Alaska had previously ended Russia’s diplomatic isolation.

“This is a fact: the Russians had been diplomatically isolated by a large part of the world, and Alaska ended that isolation. After Alaska, Europeans also began communicating with Russia. They simply did not do it as openly as the leaders of Norway and Finland have. Everyone understands that there have been contacts at the level of national security advisers and intelligence agencies. Beyond Europe, Turkey and Middle Eastern countries have also been communicating with Russia. In other words, this is happening,” Zelenskyy explained.

He added that Kyiv had learned about some other contacts only after they had already taken place.

“But here, everything is completely open: advance discussions, a full briefing and transparent objectives. Finland and Norway are showing that they want to open another channel of communication so Europe can receive information not only through the United States and Russia can hear certain things directly,” Zelenskyy concluded.

Earlier, RBC-Ukraine reported that Zelenskyy wants to hold a meeting in Abu Dhabi before talks between the US, China and Russia.

The Ukrainian president also responded to Russia’s demand for NATO to roll back to its 1997 positions.