Latest Ukraine: Finland and Sweden grow closer to NATO, US promises $ 1 billion, Trudeau weighs in on “genocide” claims
Finland could join NATO “within a few weeks” in support of the military alliance’s increases in the country and neighboring Sweden after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The United States has pledged more than $ 1 billion in US military aid to Ukraine.
And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it was “absolutely right” of more people to describe Russia’s actions in Ukraine as genocide after US President Joe Biden said Putin wanted to “obliterate” the idea of being Ukrainian.
Here is the latest on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:
Nordic countries turn to NATO
The EU nations Finland and Sweden reached important steps on the road to a possible NATO membership when the Finnish government issued a security report to members of parliament and Sweden’s ruling party began a review of security policy alternatives.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 triggered increased support for joining NATO in the two traditionally militarily non-aligned Nordic countries.
A recent survey showed a majority (54 percent) of those surveyed in Finland would support joining NATO.
In the beginning of mars a Demoskop survey commissioned by Aftonbladet showed that 51 percent of Swedes were in favor of NATO membership, up from 42 percent in January.
Finland, with a population of 5.5 million, shares the EU’s longest border with Russia, a border of 1,340 km. Sweden has no border with Russia.
Russia has warned Sweden and Finland to join NATO, where officials say it would not contribute to stability in Europe.
Officials said Russia would respond to such a move with retaliatory measures that would cause “military and political consequences” for Helsinki and Stockholm.
One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reasons for invading Ukraine was that the country refused to promise that it would not join NATO.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin spoke at a local press conference in Stockholm on Wednesday with her Swedish counterpart Magdalena Andersson, and said that Finland is ready to make a decision on NATO “within a few weeks” rather than months after an extensive debate in the 200 seats. . Eduskunta Legislative Assembly.
The United States is strengthening military support
President Biden’s administration announced an additional $ 800 million ($ 1 billion) in US military aid to Ukraine, expanding the scope of the systems provided for a broader Russian offensive expected in eastern Ukraine.
The latest package, which brings the total military aid since Russian forces invaded in February to more than $ 2.5 billion ($ 3.3 billion), includes artillery systems, artillery rounds, armored personnel carriers and unmanned coastal defense vessels, Biden said in a press release. statement following a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Mr Biden said he had also approved the transfer of additional helicopters, saying that equipment provided to Ukraine “has been critical” in confronting the invasion.
The new security aid package, according to the Department of Defense, includes 11 Mi-17 helicopters that had been earmarked for Afghanistan before the US-backed government collapsed and 18,155 mm howitzers, along with counter-artillery radar and 200 tanks.
This was the first time howets have been provided to Ukraine by the United States.
The new support will be funded through the Presidential Drawdown Authority, or PDA, where the president can approve the transfer of items and services from U.S. stocks without congressional approval in response to an emergency.
Mr Zelenskyy has appealed to US and European leaders to provide heavier weapons and equipment as his country faces an invasion that has killed thousands and displaced millions.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” to destroy Ukraine’s military capabilities and capture what are seen as dangerous nationalists, but Ukraine and the West say Russia has launched an unprovoked war of aggression.
In Ukraine on Wednesday local time, Russia said it had taken control of the port of Mariupol and that more than 1,000 Ukrainian marines had capitulated in the southeastern Ukrainian city, which has been surrounded and bombarded by Russian troops for weeks. Read more about that story here.
Trudeau weighs in on Biden’s “genocide” rhetoric
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it was “entirely right” of more people to describe Russia’s actions in Ukraine as genocide, which supports an accusation made by the US president a day earlier.
“I think as President Biden emphasized that there are official processes for genocide decisions, but I think it is entirely right that more and more people are talking and using the word genocide in terms of what Russia is doing, what Vladimir Putin has done,” Trudeau told reporters.
Mr Biden said on Tuesday that the invasion of Ukraine amounted to genocide, a significant escalation of the president’s rhetoric.
But he added that lawyers internationally would need to decide whether the invasion met the criteria for genocide or not.
Genocide, seen as the ultimate war crime, has a strict legal definition and has rarely been proven in court since it was cemented in humanitarian law after the Holocaust during World War II.
The Kremlin, which calls its Ukrainian troop movements a “special military operation,” said it categorically disagreed with Biden’s description of its actions as “genocide” and accused Washington of hypocrisy.