Finnish President Alexander Stubb proposed April 20 as the date for a full ceasefire in Ukraine “without any conditions,” following his seven-hour meeting with US President Donald Trump in Florida, Yle reported on 30 March.
This came amid ongoing negotiations over a ceasefire in Ukraine, with Russian President Putin postponing the final deal, claiming conditions that undermine Ukrainian defense capabilities.
“Why April 20? Because we need a deadline. Because it’s Easter. And because by then President Trump will have been in office for about three months,” Stubb explained his reasoning for the specific date during a press conference in London on 30 March.
The Finnish president said that strong sanctions are needed to pressure Russia into accepting a ceasefire. “I learned that sanctions are being prepared in the United States as well. We discussed this with President Trump and Senator Lindsey Graham, who is building a sanctions package,” Stubb told reporters.
According to Stubb, Graham plans to propose these sanctions soon with the support of about fifty senators. When asked about Trump’s view on these sanctions, Stubb remarked, “I got the impression that patience is also running out on the United States’ end – which I think is a good thing.”
Stubb claimed Trump is “quite impatient with Russia’s actions, and with this kind of scheming and delaying regarding the ceasefire.”
US President Donald Trump said on 30 March that he’s angry toward Russian President Vladimir Putin following Putin’s statements questioning Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s legitimacy and threatened with economic consequences if Russia fails to reach a peace agreement.
The meeting between Stubb and Trump took place at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, though Stubb did not spend the night there. The Finnish president described the meeting as a continuation of diplomatic efforts that began with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Finland a week and a half earlier.
During their discussions, Stubb conveyed Finland’s and Europe’s strong support for Ukraine. “In this war of aggression, there has been only one initiator,” he stated. Stubb also revealed that Trump directly asked him, “Can Vladimir Putin be trusted?” to which he replied, “No, he cannot.”
Stubb noted that Trump’s message to Europe was that while the US role in NATO is changing, America is not leaving the alliance. The Finnish president sees his country’s role as helping to “articulate European messages to the United States and American messages to Europeans.”
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