Newly elected Finnish President Stubb has signed new bi-lateral security agreements with Ukrainian President Zelensky in Kyiv today on a high-profile visit since his assumption of the office on March 1st, 2024. It is clear that President Stubb, as expected, is to continue the close partnership and support for Ukraine that defined the prior Niinistö administration. President Zelensky made the following announcement:
I am pleased to welcome the President of Finland @alexstubb. It is an honor for Ukraine to host the first foreign visit of the new Finnish President. We really appreciate this historic moment for both Ukraine and Finland.
Unfortunately, the President's visit is taking place… pic.twitter.com/bdS15Kef9T
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / ????????? ?????????? (@ZelenskyyUa) April 3, 2024
According to the Ukrainian government site ArmyInform, this security agreement will aim to deepened Finnish investment and aid with long-term military assistance as well as the humanitarian and energy sectors. This agreement is confirmed for a 10-year period.
Finnish Military Aid So Far
In February 2022, the Finnish government was one of the early and most significant partners in shipping lethal and non-lethal aid to Ukraine. As of February 24, the Finnish government has provided 1.8B EUR in military aid through 22 shipments. The lethal equipment delivered reads below:
Armored personnel carriers
- Sisu XA-185s [September 2022].
Combat engineering vehicles
- 6 Leopard 2R mine-clearing tanks [Before June 2023]
Self-Propelled Artillery
- 122mm 122 PSH 74s (2S1 Gvozdikas) [August 2023]
Towed artillery
- 152mm 152 K89 (2A36 Gitsint-B) [April 2023].
- 130mm 130 K54s (M-46s) [Before September 2023].
Heavy mortars
- 120mm 120 Krh 85 92s [August 2022].
Anti-aircraft guns
- 23mm 23 ITK 61 ‘Sergei’ (ZU-23)s [August 2022].
Anti-tank weaponry
- 1,500 66 KES (M72 LAW) anti-tank weapons [March 2022].
- 112mm RSKES APILAS [Before April 2023].
Small arms
- 12.7mm 12,7 ItKK 96 heavy machine guns [September 2022].
- 2,500 assault rifles [March 2022].
Ammunition
- 155mm 155 tkr88 artillery rounds [May 2022].
- 120mm JVA 1571 mortar grenades [Before October 2022].
- Sirpalekäsikranaatti M/50 hand grenades [Before October 2022].
- JVA 0406 sahte 80-16 smoke grenades [Before February 2023].
- 150,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition [March 2022] (For the Finnish-delivered assault rifles).
- Procurement of 155mm ammunition through European Defense Agency [To be delivered].
- €30 million towards the Czech purchasing of artillery shells for Ukraine.
Finns Fighting in Ukraine
It is also important to note that as of today, 3 Finnish citizens have been killed fighting in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, while the Finnish government actively dissuades its citizens from “fighting for foreign causes”. The last Finnish casualty was in February 2024 when a Finnish citizen, codenamed “Samson” was killed by a Russian drone. There are at least another two to three dozen Finnish fighters still actively fighting in the Legion as of this post.
