A ceasefire in Ukraine is unlikely before the spring and European allies need to keep up support despite a corruption scandal which has engulfed Kyiv, President Alexander Stubb of Finland told The Associated Press.

Europe, meanwhile will require ‘’sisu’’ – a Finnish word meaning endurance, resilience and grit — to get through the winter months, he said, as Russia continues its hybrid attacks and information war across the continent.

Stubb also needs that quality as one of the key European interlocutors between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. As the leader of one of Europe's smaller countries, but one that shares a 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border with Russia, he is well aware of what's at stake.

In the 1940s, after two wars with Russia, Finland lost about 10% of its territory to Moscow and agreed to become militarily neutral, a stance only reversed after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, when the Finns joined NATO. Stubb leverages his good relationship with Trump — the two men have played golf together and speak regularly — to argue the case for Ukraine.

Stubb spoke to AP Saturday at a military base north of the capital Helsinki where he observed Finnish volunteers take part in defense training. Wearing a jacket with the word “sisu” emblazoned across the back, he watched as volunteers practiced evacuating wounded soldiers from a conflict zone in freezing temperatures.

Stubb told AP that Zelenskyy must deal quickly with allegations of kickbacks and embezzlement, saying the scandal plays into the hands of Russia. Nonetheless, he urged European leaders to look at boosting financial and military support for Kyiv which is also facing creeping gains by Russia on the battlefield.

“I’m not very optimistic about achieving a ceasefire or the beginning of peace negotiations, at least this year,” Stubb said, adding it would be good to “get something going” by March.

The three big questions on the road to a ceasefire are security guarantees for Ukraine, rebuilding its economy and coming to some sort of understanding about territorial claims, he said.