Finland refuses security guarantees for Ukraine, pledges support measures

Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said Helsinki is not ready to provide Ukraine with security guarantees but can assist in arranging security measures.

During a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, journalists asked whether the two leaders had received information about the US-proposed security guarantees for Ukraine and whether they resemble NATO’s Article 5, Caliber.Az reports, citing Yle.

In turn, Orpo emphasised that these things really make a big difference, adding that Finland has not received any concrete proposals from the US or other partners and has not seen details of such measures.

“We continue working on creating security arrangements, which is a different matter than guarantees,” the Finnish prime minister stressed.

Orpo added that, in practice, real guarantees can only be provided by larger European countries and the United States, and he has no idea why Finland was listed in the US-published “28-point plan” as one of the countries supposedly ready to offer such guarantees to Kyiv.

Finland accelerated its accession to NATO in 2023 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, part of a broader shift among Nordic countries toward stronger collective defence.

Even after joining NATO, Finnish leaders maintain that only full NATO membership (with Article 5’s collective-defence clause) can offer a credible long-term security guarantee to Ukraine.

Instead of binding guarantees, Finland has signed a long-term security cooperation agreement with Ukraine covering military, financial and humanitarian support, as well as institutional reform assistance.

Moreover, Finland recently declined to participate in a US-led weapons-transfer initiative to Ukraine, signalling that even military aid is being filtered through Finnish domestic policies rather than blanket commitments.

By Jeyhun Aghazada