As Trump takes office, one of Russia's wary neighbors says a Ukraine peace deal should come this year

• A peace deal will likely be brokered in Ukraine this year, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said.
• President Donald Trump has pledged to negotiate a Ukraine deal.
• Although his timescale has slipped, both Ukraine and Russia have indicated willing.

Finland's Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said she believes there'll be a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine this year.

"I'm pretty sure there will be a peace agreement this year," said Valtonen, speaking at an event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday.

"I was in Kyiv just a week before, before last, and I must say that nobody wants and deserves peace more than Ukraine, and of course, the Ukrainian children," she said.

Valtonen went on to blame Russia for the conflict, which will be three years old in February.

President Donald Trump, who was sworn in for his second term Monday, has pledged to rapidly negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine.

On the campaign trail, he pledged to end the war on his first day in office, though his aides later said it would take longer.

It's unclear, too, what form a peace deal might take. Trump's proposed Ukraine envoy, retired lieutenant general Keith Kellogg, suggested that it could involve Ukraine handing over land to Russia and pledging to remain neutral.

Ukraine has previously said it would only accept a peace deal that involved Russia withdrawing its forces but has recently said it's open to negotiations.

Russia has also signalled willingness to negotiate, but continues to push for sweeping concessions from Kyiv.

Valtonen said that in the past, a neutrality pledge had not protected Ukraine or other countries in Russia's orbit.

"And there, I think we have a global obligation to defend people," she said.

Like Ukraine, Finland shares a land border with Russia. It had long pursued a policy of neutrality but pivoted after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 and joined the NATO defensive alliance.