Russia hits east Ukraine as Finland moves towards Nato
Helsinki of retaliatory ‘military-technical’ steps
Russian forces pounded areas in Ukraine’s east on Thursday, including the last pocket of resistance in besieged Mariupol, as a war that is redrawing Europe’s security map pushed Russia’s neighbour Finland closer to joining Nato.
Even as the globe-shaking repercussions of the invasion spread, the conflict on the ground slogged on, with Ukraine’s military recapturing some towns and villages in the country’s northeast but acknowledging that Russian forces have seen “partial success” farther south in the eastern industrial heartland of the Donbas.
Finland’s president and prime minister said on Thursday that the Nordic country should apply “without delay” for membership in the Western alliance, founded in part to counter the Soviet Union. The announcement means Finland is all but certain to apply to — and be accepted in — the military alliance whose members are committed to mutual defense, though the process could take months to complete. Neighbouring Sweden could do the same within days.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned the country would take retaliatory “military-technical” steps and said the move would “inflict a serious damage to the Russian-finnish relations as well as stability and security in Northern Europe.”
Nato’s support of Ukraine — particularly by supplying weapons — has been critical to Kyiv’s surprising success in stymieing Russia’s action, which began on February 24. Many observers thought Moscow’s larger and better-armed military would be hard to stop, but the Ukrainians have bogged Russian troops
down and thwarted their goal of overrunning the capital.
Nato members say they’re helping Ukraine defend itself but are eager to stress they are not directly involved in the war. But a top Russian official said the West’s supply of weapons and training posed a growing threat the fighting could spill into “an open and direct conflict between Nato and Russia.”
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, said that “there is always a risk of such conflict turning into a full-scale nuclear war, a scenario that will be catastrophic for all.”
Already the war has unleashed staggering destruction, killed thousands and forced millions
from their homes, while shattering Europe’s sense of post-cold War stability.
In the wake of their failure to take Kyiv, Russian forces pulled back and regrouped — and switched their focus to Ukraine’s eastern Donbas, a region where Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian troops for eight years. While Russia’s advance there has been slow, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces noted Thursday that Moscow has achieved a “partial success.”
Western officials say Russia has gained ground and taken some villages but has not managed to seize any cities.
Associated Press reporters heard explosions on Thursday and saw plumes of smoke near the town of Bakhmut, an area of the Donbas that has seen heavy fighting. The Ukrainian military said that Russian forces were “storming” two villages near Bakhmut, but the source of the blasts wasn’t immediately clear.
Russian advances in the east follow weeks of their stubborn efforts to push through Ukrainian defenses in the Donbas. It’s unclear how significant the Russian gains have been.— AP