In the last 2 weeks, we have made more progress towards ending this war than we have in the last 3 and a half years, said Finnish President Alexander Stubb at a meeting at the White House with the presidents of the US and Ukraine, with other European leaders and with the NATO Secretary General, BTA reported.
"The fact that we are sitting around this table today has symbolism and shows that we are team "Europe" and team "United States" in aid of Ukraine," said Stubb, whose statement was broadcast live.
According to him, some of the foreign media might be wondering why the Finnish president is at these talks. The reason, he said, is that Finland may be a small country, but it has a long border with Russia and participated in two wars against the Soviet Union in the 20th century.
"We found a solution in 1944 and I am sure that we will be able to find a solution in 2025 to stop Russia's military aggression and achieve a lasting and just peace," Stubb added.
A meeting was held at the White House last night, in which the presidents of the United States and Ukraine participated, along with leading European leaders - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Italy supports US efforts to achieve peace, remains on Ukraine's side and advocates for providing security guarantees for Ukraine modeled on the principle of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. This was stated by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during talks at the White House of European leaders with the presidents of the United States and Ukraine and with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
„We will discuss many important topics. The first is security guarantees – how to make sure that this will not happen again, which is the prerequisite for any peace,“ Meloni said in her speech.
The head of the Italian government expressed support for the implementation of the principle of collective defense, in which an attack on one ally is considered an attack on all – as enshrined in NATO's Article 5, Ukrinform reported.
“I am happy that we will discuss this, I am happy that we will start from a proposal that is, so to speak, modeled on Article 5 and which was Italian from the very beginning. We are always ready to present our proposals for peace, for dialogue - this is something that we must build together to guarantee peace and protect the security of our nation“, Meloni stressed.
EC President Ursula von der Leyen said at the White House summit that the priority of the negotiations on Ukraine should be the return of the abducted children.
"I want to thank you for mentioning the thousands of abducted children. "As a mother and grandmother, I say that every child should be returned to their family," she said in a conversation with US President Donald Trump, his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and several other European leaders, broadcast live on the AP's YouTube channel.
"This should be one of our main priorities in these negotiations. To make sure that the children return to Ukraine to their families," von der Leyen said.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children during the war. Russia, which is not part of the International Criminal Court, denies the charges, Reuters reported.
Earlier yesterday, Zelensky said he had discussed the fate of the abducted children with Trump.