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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived on a surprise visit to Helsinki on Wednesday to meet Nordic leaders, a rare trip abroad since Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
Zelenskyy will meet Finnish president Sauli Niinistö before attending a Nordic-Ukrainian summit with the prime ministers of Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
“The meeting of the leaders of Ukraine and the five countries of northern Europe is organised for further co-ordination of military aid to our state, European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine,” said Serhiy Nykyforov, Zelenskyy’s press secretary.
EU leaders last year granted Ukraine official candidate status, but the country’s Nato application has stalled, with Zelenskyy pressing for an answer or security guarantees to be offered at the military alliance’s summit in July.
The Nordic countries have been among the strongest backers of Ukraine, both militarily and with humanitarian funds, sending tanks, weapons and money for rebuilding the country.
Finland became Nato’s 31st member last month, serving as inspiration for Ukraine’s own aim of joining the military alliance. Kyiv applied to join Nato in September, only a few months after Helsinki and Stockholm submitted their bids. Sweden is still waiting to join, pending Turkey and Hungary’s approval of its bid.
The war in Ukraine has led to an even stronger focus in the Nordics on joint defence, with Sweden’s hoped-for Nato entry making all the countries around the Baltic Sea apart from Russia a member of the alliance.
Finland is in the process of forming a new government, with four rightwing parties in coalition talks. Both the outgoing centre-left prime minister Sanna Marin and her likely successor Petteri Orpo will meet Zelenskyy.
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