Trump growing impatient with Russia, Finnish president says

U.S. President Donald Trump is becoming more impatient with Russia as he attempts to negotiate a ceasefire in the war against Ukraine, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said at a press conference on May 18, according to the Finnish news outlet Ilta-Sanomat.

Stubb's remarks come after he held talks with Trump on May 17 and a separate conversation with President Volodymyr Zelensky on May 18.

"If you put it together, you could say that Zelensky is patient and President Trump is getting impatient, but in the right direction, which is towards Russia," Stubb told reporters on the sidelines of the Lennart Meri defense conference in Tallinn, Estonia.

Progress towards a ceasefire has been moving "slowly but surely" in a better direction for Ukraine, Stubb said.

The Finnish leader's comments come a day before Trump is set to hold a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 19. Following his talk with Putin, Trump plans to speak with Zelensky and "various members of NATO."

Trump has said he hopes the talks will result in a ceasefire agreement.

The planned calls follow failed peace talks in Istanbul, which Putin proposed as an alternative to accepting Ukraine and Europe's demand for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire. Zelensky agreed to meet Putin in Turkey, but Putin instead sent a delegation of lower-level aides to represent Russia.

The talks, which represented the first direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia since the early days of the full-scale invasion in 2022, failed to result in a ceasefire. Moscow repeated its maximalist demands, including sweeping territorial concessions and neutral status for Ukraine, while hurling insults at Ukrainian leadership.

A map showing Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine as of 2025. (The Kyiv Independent)

The countries did agree to to a 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner exchange, which Ukraine's military intelligence says may take place next week. The swap will mark the largest such exchange throughout the war.

Stubb said that the prisoner exchange was a positive sign and that he urged Trump to hold a summit with both Zelensky and Putin. He did not have any details to share regarding the upcoming call between Putin and Trump.

"After (the call) we will be a degree wiser. We'll go a little bit day by day," he said.

European leaders want to show Trump that Ukraine's position is relatively strong and Russia has serious weaknesses, Stubb said.

"So there has been a lot of talk that Ukraine is strongly at a loss. The answer is that it is not," he said.

"Russia has been trying to invade Ukraine for three years. This year they have advanced less than a percentage point of Ukrainian land."

Russia's economy is also weaker than it may seem, he said.

Trump has several times threatened to impose new sanctions against Russia if it does not agree to a ceasefire, but has not yet followed through on any of those threats despite the Kremlin's continued stalling. The Trump administration has instead consistently put pressure on Ukraine to make concessions towards a peace deal.

Ukraine first agreed to a U.S. proposal for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire on March 11. Russia continues to refuse.