Norway and Finland hold rare call with Putin to discuss ending war

Støre said all their allies had been informed of the call ahead of time.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she was “very sceptical” of Tuesday’s dialogue, telling Danish broadcaster DR, it had not been “co-ordinated with any of the rest of us”.

Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Stubb had informed him that Europe’s position on the upcoming talks in the United Arab Emirates, was “moderately optimistic”.

Relations between the US, Ukraine and its European allies have been souring since US President Donald Trump agreed to lift some sanctions from Russia – allowing it to export oil to the US.

But last week, Stubb, Støre and Zelesnky met with Witkoff in the Norwegian capital. before the US special envoy travelled on to St Petersburg to meet Putin.

Following the talks, Ukraine, Russia and the US agreed to resume three-way negotiations that Russia had stopped for months.

After speaking to the two Nordic leaders, Zelensky said part of their discussions with Putin had centred on November’s trilateral talks to be held in Abu Dhabi.

Zelensky said he had discussed with them “various formats for our engagement with partners in Europe that could be useful in further supporting diplomacy, our defense, and our shared security”.

Stubb and Støre are the first European leaders to contact Putin since French President Emmanuel Macron’s conversation with him in July 2025.

As the US administration’s position on Russia has softened, several European leaders have said Europe should be trying to establish direct contacts with the Kremlin.

Moscow regularly mocks European leaders and accuses the European Union of prolonging the war by supplying Ukraine with weapons.

But last weekend, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said having a European negotiator at the peace talks table would be “good”.