Norway and Finland leaders call Putin as Ukraine strikes Russian chemical plant

A call that broke a long-standing habit

On 27 October 2026, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb spoke with Vladimir Putin by phone for 90 minutes. Western European leaders had long avoided direct contact with the Kremlin, so the conversation departed from that practice. Støre, speaking to the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, said the aim was to make sure Putin heard European views on how to stop a war from dragging on for months with people dying. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was among allies who criticised the call. Støre said he did not expect Putin to change his mind, but that Putin heard Europe's position very clearly. He also worried that some of these messages might not reach Putin when Americans speak with him.

Putin's conditions and the territory question

The leaders also spoke with Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, following recent discussions between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and American envoys in Oslo, the four capitals announced. Putin welcomed the resumption of negotiations, which had stalled since February because of the war in Iran. In the phone conversation with the Finnish and Norwegian leaders, as reported on 28 October, he said he would meet Zelensky in a third country only to sign a peace agreement. Støre said Russia controls almost 20 percent of Ukrainian territory and that Ukraine would never sign a deal recognising that loss. He added that treating the current front line as a starting point would be a different question.

Ukrainian strike on a Tula chemical plant

Overnight into 28 October, Ukraine attacked a chemical plant in Tula region, about 200 kilometres south of Moscow, according to local authorities and independent Russian and Ukrainian media. Governor Dmitri Miliaiev wrote on Telegram that air defences were repelling a massive drone attack, and that falling debris in Novomoskovsk damaged road infrastructure, private homes and an adjacent industrial zone. He did not name the company. An independent Russian Telegram channel identified the plant as Azot, part of the EuroChem group and the largest Russian producer of ammonia and fertilisers, products that can also be used to make explosives. Azot had been attacked by Ukrainian drones on 14 and 26 June. Ukrainian channels Exilenova+ and Supernova+ said a steel unit in Lipetsk was also hit, a claim Russian authorities have not confirmed. The Russian Ministry of Defence said air defences intercepted and destroyed 531 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over 13 Russian regions overnight.

Ceasefire in Oleshky

In Oleshky, in southern Ukraine, a rare truce has held for a second consecutive day in a war nearly five years old. Mediators for Russia and Ukraine separately confirmed that the ceasefire is still being respected. A Ukrainian representative said 30 hours had passed in Oleshky without a single incident. The pause is meant to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered and civilians who want to leave to get out. A return to territory under Ukrainian control is almost impossible in the area, because the bridges over the Dnieper have been destroyed.