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Alexander Stubb has been called Europe’s “Trump whistleblower” in some circles, but according to the Finnish president, that is not true.
“President Trump is very opinionated. If I get one opinion out of ten, I’m very happy, but it’s rarely a whisper – it’s a lot of shouting what’s going on, and that’s fine,” Stubb said.
The first insight into what Stubb called a working relationship with the US president was one of many revelations he shared in an interview with CBC News senior political writer Rosemary Barton.
Stubb was in Ottawa this week for his first official bilateral meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“Obviously you’re never going to agree on everything. So I think it’s important in the conversation to be engaged, even if sometimes it feels uncomfortable,” Stubb said when asked about the ramifications of negotiations with Trump.
And while he may not think the whispering moniker is accurate, the Finnish president seems to have Trump’s ear.
“We’ve been friends for a long time,” Trump said when he visited Stubb at the White House in October 2025.
The couple played golf together at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and according to Stubb, texted each other regularly.
Among the topics the two discussed was Russia’s war in Ukraine, Stubb said.
‘We have to change the situation’
Finland, which shares a 1,300 km border with Russia – the longest among NATO and EU members – joined the NATO alliance in 2023, following the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since then, Stubb has become an influential voice in support of the Ukrainian war effort.
Now, with the response to those attacks stretching into a fourth year, he believes Ukraine is in a stronger position than at any time since 2022. A big part of Ukraine’s advantage, as Stubb explains, is the successful development of its anti-drone capabilities.
Stubb said Russian soldiers are dying at a rate five times higher than in Kyiv, largely due to an increase in the rate of airstrikes entering Ukraine. While the five-to-one ratio may be slightly higher, data shows Russian casualties still outnumber Ukrainians.
A A January report published by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies found that the ratio of Ukrainian casualties to Russian casualties was approximately 1:2.5 or 1:2.
And for the first time since 2023, in February Ukraine gained more territory than it lost, according to Finland-based analyst group Black Bird Group.
“We have to change the situation. This is no longer about giving Ukraine a bailout. We have to think about it in a different way. Can we keep Ukraine out [NATO] in the sense that they now have a lot of military experience,” said Stubb.
He pointed to Ukraine’s recent decision to deploy 228 experts to help fight the Shahed of Iran’s drones in several Middle Eastern countries.
Russia has been launching Iranian-made Shaheds, and more recently its version of fixed-wing drones, into Ukrainian cities since widespread attacks began – sometimes hundreds in one night.
“They are showing that in the Gulf region [they’re] to protect the Gulf states from Iran, and I hope the American people understand and see this,” Stubb said.
It seems the US is actually taking notice.
After initially rejecting an offer of Ukrainian counter-drone support following its attack on Iran in February, the Trump administration has since reversed course, agreeing to Iran’s Shahed. drones pose a major challenge to US air defenses, and Ukraine’s acceptance of aid.
But that does not mean that the US sees a future where Ukraine is in NATO.
In 2025, Trump voiced strong opposition to Ukraine’s desire to join NATO and pressured Kyiv to abandon membership hopes as part of an end to hostilities with Russia. That ceasefire did not materialize.
One thing is certain, for Stubb at least, that the Russian threat to NATO is not “going away.”
“Then what gives us comfort?” asked Barton. “In my mind, it’s Ukraine.”
