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

Key Points:

• Finland and Norway's leaders held a rare joint phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss potential future negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, emphasizing their initiative was independent and not representing all of Europe.
• Putin blamed "confrontational" EU and NATO policies for prolonging the conflict, while Finnish and Norwegian leaders highlighted the war's severe human and material costs and agreed to continue direct communication with Russia.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who recently met with the Nordic leaders and US envoy Steve Witkoff, expressed gratitude for their active support and discussed upcoming trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi involving Ukraine, Russia, and the US.
• The call revealed significant differences in viewpoints and was met with skepticism from some European leaders, such as Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who criticized the lack of broader coordination.
• This dialogue marks the first contact between Putin and European leaders since French President Emmanuel Macron's conversation with him in July 2025, amid ongoing efforts to resume stalled negotiations on the Ukraine conflict.