Boris Johnson spoke with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday evening about cooperation between the two countries and the global response to the Ukraine crisis. The prime minister emphasised that Finland and Sweden would be valuable additions to the NATO alliance. A government statement said Johnson “encouraged” Erdoğan to work with Swedish, Finnish and NATO counterparts.
Meanwhile, Russia on 24th February launched the war on Ukraine. And, according to the latest updates, Russia has declared victory in its months-long operation to capture the strategic port of Mariupol after Ukraine ordered the last of its troops holed up in the city’s Azovstal steelworks to lay down their arms. Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenko said 2,439 Ukrainian personnel had surrendered at the steelworks since May 16, the final 500 on Friday. Zelenskiy said Russia should be made to pay for every home, school, hospital and business it destroys. He called on Ukraine’s partners to seize Russian funds and property under their jurisdiction and use them to create a fund to compensate those who suffered.