Finland’s government announced on Sunday that it would apply for membership in NATO, a move that would end decades of strategic nonalignment and pave the way for one of the most significant expansions of the Western military alliance in years.
As Russian forces pressed ahead Tuesday in their drive to seize the strategic southern port of Mariupol and encircle Ukrainian defenders in the country’s east, Russian President Vladimir Putin defended his invasion as a noble cause.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has held talks in Kyiv with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.
President Joe Biden on Saturday said Russian leader Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” ratcheting up international pressure and further uniting NATO allies against Putin over his invasion of Ukraine.
The air war over Ukraine appears to have entered a new phase, with the Russian air force boosting the number of flights it makes per day by 50 percent and deploying an increasing array of Russian drones and munitions over the battlefield, according to U.S. defense officials and military analysts.
An elite Ukrainian drone unit has been striking Russian targets with anti-tank grenades while troops sleep.
Waves of Russian missiles pounded a military training base close to Ukraine’s western border with NATO member Poland, killing 35 people. The strike followed Russian threats to target foreign weapon shipments that are helping Ukrainian fighters defend their country against Russia’s grinding invasion.
A defiant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued an impassioned plea for help to the world Tuesday, thanking the West for its support and saying his country would not yield to the overwhelming might of the Russian military.
