Russia is the ‘most direct threat’ to world order, EU chief says; Finland’s leaders say NATO decision imminent

Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Thursday that the country should apply to join NATO “without delay.”

Finland has had a decades-long policy of military neutrality that would come to an end if it becomes a full member of the military alliance.

At the same time, the move from Helsinki could spark aggression from Russia, where President Vladimir Putin has expressed his opposition against NATO’s enlargement.

Finland shares a 830-mile border with Russia meaning that joining the military alliance would roughly double the land border that Russia has to share with NATO territories (Russia has land borders with 14 countries and five of them are NATO members: Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland and Norway).

The governor of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine has reported a number of casualties following multiple Russian airstrikes targeting critical infrastructure, including schools overnight in Novhorod-Siversky.

There were “several air strikes on critical infrastructure” including schools, Governor Vyacheslav Chaus said on his Telegram channel, posting images of damaged buildings.

“There are dead and wounded,” he said, without specifying numbers. He said rescuers and medics were working at the scene.

Other administrative buildings and private houses were also damaged, he added.

NBC has not independently verified reports.

Russia is the “most direct threat” to the international order, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned during a meeting in Japan.

Speaking after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, von der Leyen said at a press conference “is today the most direct threat to the world order with the barbaric war against Ukraine.”

She also cited what she called Russia’s “worrying pact” with China and “their call for new, and very much arbitrary, international relations.”

European Council President Charles Michel also took part in the summit in the Japanese capital of Tokyo, which saw both Japan and the EU pledge to strengthen ties.

Commenting on the invasion, Japan’s Kishida said: “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not just a matter for Europe, but it shakes the core of the international order including Asia. This must not be tolerated.”

More than 500 members of the National Guard of Ukraine have died since Russia’s invasion in late February, said Oleksiy Nadtochyi, the head of its operational department, according to NBC News.

This is the first time the military force has announced its death toll since the war began.

Nadtochyi told state media that 501 members were killed and 1,697 have been injured, NBC News reported.

The National Guard covers Ukraine’s northern border with Belarus and is also involved in operations in the country’s eastern and south regions, Nadtochyi added.

Ukraine’s National Guard was formed in March 2014 when Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and serves as a military unit with law enforcement powers.

— Chelsea Ong

The pro-Russian leader installed in Ukrainian’s southern city of Kherson, the first city to have fallen fully under Russian control, says he will request that Putin annex the territory for Russia.

“There will be a request to make Kherson region a full subject of the Russian Federation,” said Kirill Stremousov, the newly-appointed deputy head of the military-civilian administration in Kherson, according to Russian news agencies. He added that Kherson will be entirely under Russian law by the end of this year.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded by saying that it was up to Kherson’s residents to decide whether they would join Russia. But Ukrainian and Western officials warn that Moscow is planning to hold a sham referendum there to justify Russian rule.

Kherson is a strategically important capture for Moscow as it provides a land link between Russian separatist-backed territories in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk and Crimea to the south, which it annexed in 2014.

— Natasha Turak

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed a security declaration with Sweden, pledging to support the Nordic country if it comes under military attack. The security pact can also mean intelligence sharing or joint military drills, Johnson said.

“The declaration makes clear, it’s upon request of Sweden that the U.K. will of course provide assistance,” the U.K. leader said. “What matters primarily is what Sweden decides to request.”

The news comes as Sweden and Finland, the latter of which borders Russia, are set to make their decisions on whether to apply for membership to the NATO alliance, breaking a long-held position of neutrality when it comes to the alliance and Russia. Moscow has threatened consequences if the countries were to join NATO.

Public support for joining the defensive alliance in both Sweden and Finland has soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking in Sweden alongside Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, Johnson stressed the rights of sovereign countries to chart their own courses of action.

“The war in Ukraine is forcing us all to make difficult decisions, but sovereign nations must be free to make those decisions without fear or influence or threat of retaliation,” he said. Johnson is scheduled to visit Finland as well to sign a similar security agreement.

— Natasha Turak