Finnish President Alexander Stubb told CNBC on Tuesday that Ukraine has already won the war against Russia — though he warned that Kiev still urgently needs more air defense support from NATO allies.
Stubb highlighted that Ukraine has managed to maintain its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity despite more than four years of full-scale invasion by Moscow.
“Look at things from Moscow’s perspective: In the last four years, during the active war, they have advanced 60 kilometers. In World War II, they went from Moscow to Berlin, that is, 1,400 kilometers. You have to ask yourself: ‘Who has won, who has lost?’ “I say Ukraine has won,” Stubb said Tuesday at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.
“My message is that yes, Europe needs to move forward, but you know Ukraine needs NATO, but NATO needs Ukraine just as much as vice versa,” he said.
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson had expressed a similar tone earlier in the day.
“Russia is certainly not winning the war against Ukraine right now, that’s quite clear, Ukraine is having spectacular successes,” Christerson said. “Russia is not managing this war at all as they initially anticipated.”
The Nordic leaders’ comments came as NATO allies gathered in the Turkish capital for a summit that discussed the future of Ukraine, Russia’s threat to Europe and what scale and speed European countries can reduce their dependence on the US.
After years of pressure from Washington and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, NATO leaders committed to increasing defense spending from 2% of GDP to 5% by 2035.
This is a developing story. Please refresh for updates.