Russia-Ukraine war, LIVE: Putin’s government promises “countermeasures” after Finland joins NATO

Ukraine insists on joining NATO as Finland joins today

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba said on Tuesday that his country “is looking forward” to joining NATO, as is Finland today, which will become the 31st allied country.

“We congratulate our Finnish friends on their accession. Ukraine looks forward to achieving the same goal by becoming a full member of NATO,” said Kuleba upon arriving at the meeting held today in Brussels by the foreign ministers of the Alliance, where Kiev participates as a host country.

The head of Ukrainian diplomacy assured that “NATO and Ukraine need each other” and assured that “there is no better structural solution to ensure strategic security in the Euro-Atlantic region than Ukraine’s entry in the Alliance”.

Indeed, Ukraine asked to join NATO last September 30, but the allies have not yet accepted their request. In the midst of the war against Russia, its entry could immediately trigger a direct confrontation with Moscow, applying the collective defense clause.

The Russian foreign minister will chair a debate on international peace and security at the UN

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will chair a United Nations (UN) debate on international peace and security in late April, Russia’s ambassador to the world forum, Vasily Nebenzia, said today.

“As previously announced, we expect Minister Lavrov to arrive in New York at the end of April. He will chair our second flagship event on April 24, which is an open discussion on building international peace and security and effective multilateralism through defense of the principles of the UN Charter,” the diplomat said at a press conference, reported the Russian news agency Sputnik.

For his part, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, confirmed his participation as a speaker, added Nebenzia.

According to Ukraine, Moscow fired General Muradov from Donetsk

General Rustam Muradov, who commanded Russian troops in eastern Ukraine, was allegedly removed from his post after Russian attacks near Vuhledar in Donetsk failed.

The rumors about the dismissal of the senior officer, the Onet portal wrote, were confirmed by two sources from the Ministry of Defense to the Moscow Times.

One of the two sources linked Muradov’s torpedo attack to setbacks around Vuhledar, where – according to the Dutch group Oryx, which publishes information on Russian losses – in the heat of the February offensive, troops led by general lost 103 pieces of military equipment in three days, including 36 tanks, against only 20 pieces of Ukrainian military equipment, including two tanks

Finland will join NATO tomorrow and Russia plans to strengthen its borders with the Nordic country

Finland will join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) tomorrow, April 4, announced today the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, a decision considered a threat by Russia, which has announced it wants to strengthen its military capability close to the Nordic country

“It will be a historic week. Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will raise the Finnish flag at headquarters in Brussels and (the country) will become a member of the alliance,” Stoltenberg told reporters.

Brussels will host a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on April 4 and 5, the diplomat also said, according to Sputnik news agency. Finland’s accession process, the Norwegian official noted, was “the fastest in NATO’s modern history”.

On the contrary, Russia perceives this accession as a threat to its security: “Strengthening our military capabilities in the west and north-west”, i.e. near the border with Finland and other Eastern European countries, said the deputy minister of relations foreign Russians, Alexander Gruchko.

Russia and Ukraine step up their recruitment, preparing for the fighting ahead

With their soldiers fighting and dying in muddy trenches, ruined cities and vast minefields, Russia and Ukraine have stepped up recruitment campaigns to bolster their severely depleted armies, another sign that both sides are preparing for a long war. to know more

Russia hands over five wounded prisoners of war to Ukraine

Russia handed over to Ukraine on Monday five wounded Ukrainian prisoners of warsaid Russian ombudsman Tatiana Moskalkova after Kiev handed over the same number of wounded Russian servicemen to Moscow late last month.

“Today five wounded servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were repatriated to Ukraine. We continue to work in this direction,” he wrote on Telegram.

Moskalkova recalled that at the end of March the Ukrainian side handed over five Russian soldiers, who are currently receiving medical treatment.

NATO chief calls for release of US journalist detained in Russia

The secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, on Tuesday called on Russia to immediately release the American journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested a week ago on spying charges.

Gershkovich’s arrest “is a cause for great concern. It is important to respect the freedom of the press, the rights of journalists, the right to ask questions and do one’s job. Therefore, we demand his immediate release,” Stoltenberg said in a conference press.

Zelensky on the counteroffensive: “They still have time to go” or we will destroy them

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said today that all temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories will be liberated, so Russian troops will be destroyed if they don’t withdraw.

“I won’t talk about concrete things, because we can’t give the Russian terrorists the chance to prepare our methods and measures for the evacuation. But we will, and they must know it. They still have time to get out of there, otherwise we will destroy them”, he said.

Zelensky, who made the remarks during a visit to Yahidne in the Chernihiv region to mark the anniversary of the village’s liberation from Russian occupation, did not say when exactly the Ukrainian army will be ready for the counteroffensive.

Assault on a pro-Russian blogger: a 26-year-old girl arrested

Russian investigators arrested a woman searching for the killers of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a St. Petersburg cafe explosion on Monday.

Darya Trepova, 26, was on the wanted list of the Interior Ministry. Her arrest was later confirmed by the Russian Investigative Committee.

Russian media reported that Tatarsky was handed a statuette shortly before the explosion and there is speculation that there may be a hidden device inside.

Russia will celebrate Victory Day this year with strict security measures

Russia will hold military parade for the this year Victory Day over Nazi Germany in World War II with strict security measures, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said today.

“It is clear, enhanced measures are and will be taken to ensure security,” said the representative of the Russian presidency, when asked if there will be any changes in the celebrations after the recent attack on a Russian military blogger in St. Petersburg.

“There will be no changes in plans for the military parade,” Peskov added.

Russia confiscates passports of officials and leaders

Russia’s security services are confiscating the passports of senior officials and executives of state-owned companies to prevent them from traveling abroad, fearing defections to Vladimir Putin’s regime, the British business newspaper ‘Financial Times’ (FT) reported on Monday.

Security officials have tightened travel requirements within the state sector, requiring the delivery of travel documents by prominent figures, according to several people familiar with the matter, the FT adds.