Finnish leaders officially support NATO
The Finnish leadership on Thursday announced its support for rapid NATO membership despite the Kremlin’s dire warnings about “retaliatory steps”.
The decision by President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin is strongly supported by Finnish lawmakers and citizens, although there are still several steps before the application process can begin. Neighboring Sweden is expected to decide to join NATO in the coming days.
“Being a member of NATO will strengthen Finland’s security,” the leaders said in a joint statement. “As a member of NATO, Finland will strengthen the entire defense alliance. Finland must apply to join NATO immediately.”
They said they expect applications to be submitted within the next few days. Finland’s Minister of European Affairs, Tytti Tuppurainen, said the Finnish Parliament will vote on the issue early next week. Finland shares an 830-mile border with Russia.
“We want to protect our freedoms and our equality,” said Tuppurainen. “This is not just about territory and borders. This fight is also about values and ideology.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the move was a violation of international legal obligations.
“Russia will be forced to take retaliatory steps, both militarily and otherwise, to limit threats to its national security,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. in this matter”.
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Latest developments:
►Dmitry Medvedev, Vice Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said that the growing supply of Western weapons and training of the Ukrainian army had “raised the possibility that an ongoing proxy war would become a open and direct conflict between NATO and Russia”.
►Russian forces and affiliated armed groups are responsible for most of the civilian deaths in the war in Ukraine, said United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. She cited heavy artillery, multiple rocket launchers, missiles and air strikes.
►A Ukrainian human rights activist says LGBTQ people in her country are “on the front lines of resistance” against Russian aggression and many have joined the Ukrainian army. Olena Shevchenko told a European forum via a video link that Ukraine’s LGBTQ pro-LGBT groups have also joined to provide humanitarian assistance.
Putin blames serious world problems on Western push for ‘global domination’
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the West was the cause of the rapidly rising global prices of food, fuel and fertilizers, leaving some of the world’s poorest countries vulnerable to food insecurity. Mr. Putin, speaking at a meeting on economic issues, said sanctions on Russia would have consequences that are hard to reverse elsewhere.
The blame for this rests entirely and entirely on the elites of Western countries, who for the sake of maintaining their global dominance are ready to sacrifice the rest of the world, Putin said. world”. He claimed that Russia was coping well, with domestic companies supplying goods suffering damage from sanctions “after unscrupulous partners left.”
Ukraine liberates towns near Kharkiv
Ukraine’s counterattacks have recaptured several towns and villages north of Kharkiv towards the Russian border, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in an assessment on Thursday. The assessment said that Russia’s prioritization of operations in the Donbas has made elements deployed in the Kharkiv region vulnerable to Ukraine’s mobile and “highly motivated” counter-attack force. Russia besieged Kharkiv in the early stages of the conflict but is believed to have withdrawn units from the area to reorganize and replenish elsewhere after heavy losses, the assessment added.
The withdrawal of Russian forces from Kharkiv Oblast is a tacit admission of Russia’s inability to capture key Ukrainian cities, where they expect limited resistance from the population, the review said.
War blamed on rapidly rising prices in the world’s poorest countries
The war in Ukraine has sent food, fuel and fertilizer prices soaring to record levels in many parts of the world, leaving some of the world’s poorest countries vulnerable to food insecurity.
Ukraine and the Russian Federation provide about 30% of the world’s wheat and barley, a fifth of the corn and more than half of the world’s sunflower oil. And Russia is the world’s top natural gas exporter and second largest oil exporter.
According to the United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development, small-scale farmers have been unable to keep up with the worldwide price increase caused by the war, leaving them unable to pay for machinery fuel and fertilizers.
Regions of Africa, the Near East and Central Asia have been hardest hit by price shocks, the UN said. In Somalia, many farmers rely on diesel-powered irrigation: high fuel prices plus drought make experts worry about famine.
Russia still wants to take Kyiv, Ukraine general warns
Russia still plans to control Ukraine’s capital, a Ukrainian general said. Brigadier General Oleksiy Hromov said at a press conference that the Russian military will try to attack Kyiv and plan to gain control of the southern regions of Mykolaiv and Odesa to build a land corridor to Moldova, where there are Transnistria breakaway region.
Mr. Hromov also said that Russia will try to organize fake elections in the occupied Ukrainian territories to be annexed by Russia. Authorities appointed by Russia have announced plans to seek annexation in the city of Kherson, southern Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attempted to capture the capital in the early days of the invasion, but the Russian military has since not focused on the hotly contested eastern Donbas region.
Contribute:Deirdre Shesgreen and Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY; Related press