Ukraine Russia Conflict: Finland’s parliament to discuss joining NATO alliance, amid Russia-Ukraine war

Finland’s parliament to hold a meeting on the country joining Nato as Russia attacked West Ukraine. An overwhelming majority of Finland parliament’s 200 members must vote in favor to join NATO. According to Finnish media, about 100 members are currently ready to vote in favor of joining, while 12 parliamentarians are against it. While the votes of the remaining members are still unclear. 

Meanwhile, Russia on February 24 launched its invasion of Ukraine. However, according to the latest updates, Russia has given Mariupol a fresh ultimatum to surrender at 2 pm today. In a statement issued early on Wednesday morning, the Russian defence ministry said its forces opened a humanitarian corridor from the Azovstal plant “for the withdrawal of Ukrainian servicemen” to “voluntarily lay down their arms” as well as to evacuate civilians. A commander for the Ukrainian marines fighting in Mariupol said his forces were “maybe facing our last days, if not hours” and appealed for extraction in a video message published to his Facebook account early on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said the intensity of fire by Russian troops towards Kharkiv, the Donbas, and Dnipro has “increased significantly”, one day after the Kremlin launched its long-anticipated offensive in eastern Ukraine.