Peter Vesterbacka

Over the next two days, Poland and Lithuania will be the first countries to sign SAFE loan agreements. These two plans alone are over €50 billion, to close critical capability gaps and keep our Eastern flank safe. With SAFE, we are strengthening our defence industry all across Europe. Delivering the capabilities we need. Faster, together and at scale.

This is literally the funniest moment in the history of American foreign policy.

Over 120 flights canceled in Moscow, as the filthy savages enjoy their war of territorial expansion.

Something is happening. Orban's defeat on April 12 was the first positive signal. Ukraine's rise in the war against Russia is a broad positive signal. Trump's complete folly in his war against Iran is a third. Suddenly, Russia looks shaky. Will something happen?

“This is no longer our war.” The Kremlin is facing its biggest split in decades The Washington Post reports that Russian elites are increasingly at odds with one another amid the war, economic problems, and intensifying repression. According to the publication, Sergei Kirienko’s team is arguing with the FSB over the country’s future. Some are convincing Putin that the situation can be controlled through propaganda and political maneuvering. Security officials, however, are demanding even tighter controls and increased censorship. The newspaper’s sources compare the situation to the 1996 crisis—one of the most difficult periods for the Russian government since the collapse of the Soviet Union. According to the WP’s sources, there is a growing sense of hopelessness and loss of control within the system. Officials and business leaders are increasingly referring to the war as Putin’s adventure rather than a common cause. For the Russian system, built on personal loyalty to the dictator, this is an alarming sign. Putin has led the country into a dead end, and no one understands what will happen next.

I’m grateful to our warriors for their precision – today, Ukraine’s long-range sanctions have once again reached Perm, which is more than 1,500 kilometers from our border. Recently, there have also been important results in Chelyabinsk – up to 1,800 kilometers away, as well as in Yekaterinburg – nearly 2,000 kilometers away. The effects of Ukraine’s long-range capabilities have also been felt in Novorossiysk, Krymsk, Tuapse, and in the Samara and Nizhny Novgorod regions. We have repeatedly offered the Russian leadership the option of moving toward peace. In response, we have received only new Russian strikes. That is exactly why Ukraine’s long-range sanctions are extending to distant locations in Russia linked to its military-industrial complex, war infrastructure, and the financing of its aggression. Every day, Russia can make a choice and end its war. And not for a few hours in order to receive our permission to hold a parade in Moscow, but in a way that protects human lives. People must be valued, not parades. There is a need to establish peace, rather than running around the world’s capitals begging for a pause on May 9. We need peace. Thank you to everyone helping bring Russia to this realization.

For the first time, a non-European nation has taken part in the European Political Community Summit. It was an honour to represent Canada in Yerevan, Armenia. In an era of great power rivalry and increasing division, we’re focused on creating more peace, security, and stability in the world.

BLINKEN: For every dollar we put into Ukraine, Europeans and others put in dollar and half. Notion that they were free-riding on Ukraine simply not true. And much of money we spent on Ukraine was spent in United States to either buy weapons for Ukraine or replenish our stocks.

Trump in 2016: “I’m going to be working for you. I’m not going to have time to play golf.” Since returning to office in January 2025, Trump has spent 106 of his 473 days golfing, costing taxpayers nearly $150 million.

I thank every state and leader who supported Ukraine’s proposal for a full ceasefire. Russia responded to it only with new strikes and attacks. Throughout the entire day, almost every hour, reports of strikes have been coming in from different regions of Ukraine. Ukraine will act in kind. Depending on the situation overnight and tomorrow, we will also determine our fully justified responses. Russia has received from us a clear proposal on silence of the guns and diplomacy – and knows how to contact Ukraine or our partners in order to coordinate the details. If the one person in Moscow who cannot live without war cares only about one parade and nothing else, that’s a different story. Ukraine is ready to work for peace. Ukraine seeks to end this war with dignity. Russia has fought to the point where even its main parade now depends on us. This is a clear signal: Enough is enough.

Why bombing Moscow is crutially important? Because there is two russias - the one inside MKAD (Moscow) and outside MKAD - everything else. No one inside MKAD cares what happens outside MKAD if it has no effect on Moscow's life quality. Let's talk MKAD It's where Russia ends and also-Russia begins. Muscovites have a word for everyone who lives outside it: замкадыши — "those beyond the MKAD." They use it the way you'd say "provincial." Gently condescending at best. Openly contemptuous at worst. This goes back to Stalin. Moscow was built to impress — foreign delegations, propaganda films, the face of the Soviet dream. So it got the food, the clinics, the culture, the careers. The rest of the country got to watch. Fast forward to 2022. Look at who's coming home in zinc coffins from Ukraine. It's not the Arbat kids. It's Buryatia. Tuva. Dagestan. Places so far outside the MKAD they might as well be a different country — because functionally, they are. The empire always worked like this. Moscow consumes. The regions provide. Sons, grain, votes, silence. Nothing about this is new. What's new is that it's happening in real time, with names and faces, and everyone can see it. The ring road is 109 km long. The gap it marks has been growing for a hundred years.

Evening in East Helsinki today.

Musk promised his data center would reuse water. That's now stalled. politico.com/news/2026/05/0…

Germany has overtaken the United States in conventional ammunition production capacity ukdefencejournal.org.uk/germany-has-ov…

Seventy years ago, Finland launched its role in international crisis management. Since the first UN mission in Suez in 1956, over 60,000 Finns have served worldwide under the UN, EU, NATO & OSCE.   We thank you for your courage and professionalism.

Oggi, a margine del Vertice della Comunità Politica Europea di Yerevan, ho avuto un colloquio con il Primo Ministro del Canada, @MarkJCarney. L’incontro ha permesso di verificare lo stato di attuazione del piano d’azione per la cooperazione rafforzata Italia-Canada, con particolare attenzione ai settori dell’innovazione tecnologica, della sicurezza e della difesa. Nel corso del colloquio, abbiamo ribadito piena sintonia sulle priorità in ambito G7, a partire dalla resilienza delle catene di approvvigionamento dei minerali critici e dal contrasto al traffico di migranti su cui abbiamo concordato di restare in stretto contatto in vista del Vertice di Evian. Abbiamo, infine, approfondito i principali dossier dell’agenda internazionale, riaffermando il comune impegno per una pace giusta in Ucraina e condividendo l’urgenza di una soluzione per la necessaria stabilità del Golfo e la tutela della libertà di navigazione nello Stretto di Hormuz.

Just shameful that the US is not sharing the burden in the greatest fight for freedom of our lifetimes. Canada is now a more consequential leader of the free world than the US. Hope this changes in the future.

The Czech Republic is an important EU partner and NATO ally. We had excellent discussions with @PrezidentPavel, particularly on the economy and security. By working closely together, we punch above our weight.

A European startup that built a foundational model with only $9m has just been acquired for $1bn+. The company - @prior_labs, has built a state-of-the-art foundation model for tabular data. It was founded by @FrankRHutter, @noahholl and Sauraj Gambhir, and only announced a $9m pre-seed led by @balderton (@Jameswise) last year. Tabular data, i.e. structured data in tables, spreadsheets, and databases, plays an essential role is many critical industries, but was neglected in the early advances in AI that focused on text and images. Today SAP has announced that it is acquiring the company for $1bn+. To date Prior Labs has only raised $9m which means it will likely be a great result for its founders, employee and early investors who include Balderton, @guypod, @Thom_Wolf, @petersarlin. It's great to see a good exit for the German tech ecosystem and even better to see it staying in Europe! It also shows how much there is to play for in AI. The team have built an insanely high quality, hyper-focused model and have got a unicorn outcome on just under a year. Amazing news!

In this morning’s Russian newspapers: Moscow warns Kyiv not to target the Red Square parade; problems with Russian bonds, with “almost 25% of the bond market at risk of default”; and what a newspaper joke section is saying about the state of the Russian economy. #ReadingRussia