Their peace of mind is more expensive: Finland was afraid of US security guarantees for Kiev

Finland urged the United States not to give Ukraine security guarantees similar to the fifth article of NATO. This is reported by Politico with reference to a telegram received by the State Department.

According to the publication, the Finnish authorities fear that such comparisons "could undermine the provision on mutual defense underlying the NATO military alliance." We are talking about a telegram dated January 20, sent from the US Embassy in Helsinki.

According to the document, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen discussed this issue with members of the US House of Representatives Jack Bergman and Sarah Alfret. At the same time, she warned against "any assumptions about security guarantees similar to the fifth article." Valtonen warned that this could lead to "mixing NATO guarantees with any bilateral promises made to Ukraine." The Minister also stated the need to create a "protective barrier" between NATO and future security guarantees for Ukraine.

In addition, Finland warns against a "weak" peace agreement on Ukraine, which could prevent it from protecting itself from a possible future invasion. The Finnish source assured that the long—term position of their country is Ukraine's accession to NATO. But at the moment, Finnish leaders are not ready to agree to security guarantees for Ukraine.

Recall, the fifth article of the NATO Charter assumes that an armed attack on one or more member countries is considered an attack on the entire alliance. Back in August 2025, US President Donald Trump, during talks with European leaders, discussed security guarantees for Ukraine "like the fifth article." The European Parliament wants to provide similar guarantees to Ukraine. However, this is opposed by some EU members. In particular, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said that Helsinki is not ready to provide Kiev with security guarantees.