Finnish president and Norwegian PM express cautious optimism about achieving ceasefire in Ukraine

At a press conference on 9 May in Oslo, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre stated that they believe that current efforts to establish a ceasefire in Ukraine are moving in the right direction.

Source: Reuters, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Stubb and Støre held phone conversations with the presidents of Ukraine and the United States the day before. Later, they also spoke again with Zelenskyy during the JEF summit.

Quote from Stubb: "I feel carefully optimistic that at this particular moment in time, we're moving in the right direction, both militarily on the ground, as Zelenskyy has pointed out, and also in terms of the ceasefire and the peace process." 

Details: He said that he could not specify a timeline for achieving such a ceasefire, but added that "in an ideal world, a Ukraine ceasefire would be declared over the weekend".

The Norwegian prime minister was slightly more reserved in his assessment of the progress.

Quote from Støre: "So compared to some weeks ago, I think there are some positive elements. I think the fact that the US are still engaged, that they reconfirmed their engagement – if you read the wording of President Trump yesterday evening, I think we contributed to that." 

Background:

• Støre was referring to Trump’s statement following his conversation with Zelenskyy on 8 May, in which he said that he would like to see a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.
• Previously, Trump stated that Russian ruler Vladimir Putin was more inclined towards peace following the recent drop in oil prices.

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