Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö tweeted that he has spoken to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, about joining NATO and Zelensky supported his decision. He wrote: "I spoke with President Zelenskiy and reiterated Finland’s firm support for Ukraine. I informed him of Finland’s steps towards Nato membership and he expressed his full support for it."
Earlier, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin this morning said that Finland must apply to join the Nato military alliance “without delay”. “Nato membership would strengthen Finland’s security. As a member of Nato, Finland would strengthen the entire defence alliance. Finland must apply for Nato membership without delay,” Niinisto and Marin said in a joint statement. “We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days.”
Meanwhile, Russia on 24th February launched its invasion of Ukraine. And, according to the latest updates, A Ukrainian commander in Mariupol has appealed directly to Elon Musk, asking the world’s richest man to intervene on behalf of those trapped by Russian forces in control of the southern city. Ukraine has said it will suspend the flow of gas through a transit point that it says delivers almost a third of the fuel piped from Russia to Europe through Ukraine. Also, Ukraine claimed it has recaptured Pytomnyk, a village north of Kharkiv, about halfway to the Russian border. However, Finland’s president, Sauli Niinisto, is expected to give a green light on Thursday for the country to join the NATO military alliance, while Sweden is expected to do so in the coming days.