HELSINKI — President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine arrived in Finland on Wednesday to meet with Nordic leaders, a rare overseas trip for the Ukrainian leader amid the Russian invasion.
The office of the Finnish president said in a statement that Mr. Zelensky was invited to hold talks in Helsinki on “Ukraine’s defense struggle and Finland’s support for Ukraine,” among other matters. Mr. Zelensky and Finland’s president, Sauli Niinisto, will hold a joint news conference after the discussions, it added.
Mr. Niinisto and Mr. Zelensky were also expected to meet with the prime ministers of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland to “discuss the situation of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine” and “the Nordic countries’ continued support for Ukraine,” as well as Ukraine’s relationship with the European Union and NATO, the statement said.
The Ukrainian president has made few overseas trips since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Last month he received a hero’s welcome on an official visit to Poland.
Mr. Zelensky will also travel to Germany for an official state visit on May 13, Berlin’s police department, which is tasked with providing security, confirmed on Wednesday.
Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, became NATO’s 31st member state last month. That was a significant blow to Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, who has strongly opposed the expansion of the trans-Atlantic military alliance.
Ukraine applied for NATO membership last year, but there is division among NATO countries about whether Ukraine should be offered a pathway to membership at a summit this summer.
As Ukraine is not a member, NATO only helps to coordinate Kyiv’s requests for nonmilitary assistance and supports deliveries of humanitarian aid. But individual NATO members, such as the United States and Germany, are some of the largest providers of military assistance to Ukraine.
Though the Ukrainian leader has addressed German lawmakers by video link before, his trip to Berlin would mark his first in-person visit to Germany since the Russian invasion began. Germany is one of Ukraine’s biggest donors of military aid.
Besides the official state visit, which will include talks with both Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Mr. Zelensky is also expected to attend a ceremony in the western city of Aachen, where he will be awarded the Charlemagne Prize for his work toward unifying Europe. Previous recipients of the prize include Pope Francis, Winston Churchill, Bill Clinton, Henry A. Kissinger and Vaclav Havel.
Mr. Zelensky last visited Berlin in July 2021, where he met with then-chancellor Angela Merkel.
Christopher F. Schuetze contributed reporting.
