Finnish Foreign Minister Calls NATO Membership Ukraine's Only Long-Term Security Guarantee

JAKARTA - Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said on Wednesday membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was Ukraine's credible long-term security guarantee to confront future Russian aggression.

Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have requested strong security guarantees from partners who will prevent Russia from arming itself for the new attack.

Donald Trump's return to the White House on January 20, opened hopes for a diplomatic resolution to end Moscow's invasion, but also raised Kyiv's concerns that swift peace could sacrifice many things.

"I think in the long term the only credible security guarantee is Article 5 of the Washington Agreement, so basically NATO membership," Foreign Minister Valtonen told Reuters.

"And we support future NATO membership of Ukraine and hopefully not too long," he added.

Ukrainian leaders are known to have aggressively pushed for an invitation to join the 32-member alliance. However, it faced opposition from key members during the Russian-Ukraine war nearing its third year, with Ukrainian troops struggling to push back Russian progress.

Meanwhile, Trump, who criticized the United States' aid to Ukraine, said on Tuesday he sympathized with Russia's position that Ukraine should not be part of NATO. His aides and allies see Ukraine's membership as an unnecessary provocation of Moscow.

He also blamed Democratic President Joe Biden for allegedly changing US positions regarding NATO membership for Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Valtonen, who is in Kyiv a few days after Finland holds the position of chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said the Trump administration would not necessarily end Ukraine's NATO ambitions.

"Three years ago no one thought Finland would join NATO, or Sweden in this," he said.

"So here we are, we never know," he said.

Finland, which shares an 830-mile (1,336 km) border with Russia, joined the alliance in 2023 following a massive Kremlin invasion of its smaller neighboring country. Sweden joined earlier this year.