As a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, diplomats and government officials predict that Finland announce its intention to join Nato on Thursday, which is expected to be followed by Sweden’s bid.
During the one-year ratification period, Nato allies expect Finland and Sweden to be granted membership quickly, according to five diplomats and officials quoted by Reuters.
On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to protect Sweden and Finland from Russian threats as he traveled to both countries to sign mutual security agreements ahead of their upcoming NATO memberships.
If Finland and Sweden join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato), it would be a direct threat to Russia’s security, which considers the expansion of the organization an act of aggression.
Putin has cited this as a reason for his actions in Ukraine, which has also expressed a desire to join the alliance. Moscow has also repeatedly warned Finland and Sweden against joining the alliance, threatening them with “serious military and political consequences”.
In response to a question about whether or not joining NATO would put Finland at odds with Russia, President Sauli Niinisto said Putin would be the one to blame. “I’d say you’re to blame for this because you brought it about. Niinisto instructed, “Look in the mirror.”
As a result of its “barbaric” conflict in Ukraine, Russian President Ursula von der Leyen issued a dire warning to the international community on Thursday.
While in Japan, Charles Michel, the European Council’s president, and Von der Leyen have discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as growing concerns over China’s role in Asia and beyond.
After talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, she declared that Russia “is today the most direct threat to the world order with the barbaric war against Ukraine and its worrying pact with China.” She added.
Protesters in Ukraine’s east on Wednesday claimed to have retaken territory from Russian forces, bringing the prospect of an energy crisis to Europe’s doorstep.
Pytomnyk, a village on the main highway north of the second-largest city of Kharkiv, about halfway to the Russian border, was retaken by the Ukrainian armed forces, according to the general staff.
Tatyana Pochivalova returned to her village near Kharkiv in early April to find it destroyed by Ukrainian forces.
As a weeping Pochivalova lamented, “I had not expected anything like this. Such aggression, such destruction. “I arrived and simply kissed the ground. There’s nothing in my house. ‘How and where am I going to live?’
Since driving Russian troops from Kyiv and the north of Ukraine at the beginning of April, Ukraine appears to have made the fastest advance yet.
Russian supply lines could be threatened by Ukrainian forces, and Russian logistics targets could be in the range of artillery if the conflict continues for an extendperiodime.
But a senior US military official has warned that neither side can win in the current circumstances and that Russian and Ukrainian forces appear to be settling into a brutal and deadly stalemate in Ukraine’s eastern regions.
Though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Ukrainian counterattacks around the city of Kharkiv had pushed back invading Russian forces, the Ukrainian successes appeared to be confined to only the far north-eastern and south-western corners of the 300-mile frontline, despite this claim.
According to Pentagon Defense Intelligence Agency director Lt Gen Scott Berrier, who testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday alongside US national intelligence director Avril Haines, “the Russians aren’t winning, and the Ukrainians aren’t winning, and we’re at a bit of a stalemate here.”
Despite losing ground around Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, the Russian military claimed that its forces had advanced to the border between the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, potentially edging toward securing control of the Donbas region, at the time of the assessment.
Russian gas supplies to Europe have been disrupted for the first time as a direct result of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials.
Both Gazprom’s former German unit and its subsidiaries, which supply Europe’s gas consumption with Russia, have been subject to sanctions by Moscow as a result.
For Europe, which purchases over a third of its gas from Russia, the consequences were unclear. In response to the announcement, Berlin said it was looking into it. Taking “the necessary precautions and preparing for various scenarios,” a spokesperson for the German economy ministry said.
Kyiv has claimed that Russia plans to hold a fake referendum on independence or annexation in southern Ukraine, where Russia has seized a large swath of land.
- Tags: Finland, NATO, Russia-Ukraine War
