May 16, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, said on Monday that there’s “strong bipartisan support” in the US to help Finland become a member of NATO and that he thinks the US Congress will vote “as rapidly as possible” — likely before the chamber’s August recess — to support Finland’s application to join the alliance. 

He added: “The goal of the United States will be able will be to approve that as rapidly as possible.” 

Two-thirds of the Senate is required to support the treaty in order for it to be ratified. McConnell said he expects the size of the vote in the chamber to be “very significant.”

When asked when Congress would vote, the Kentucky Republican said: “I think certainly we hope to achieve it before the August recess when Congress typically goes out of session. Obviously, that would be well before the fall election. With regard to the size of the vote, I think it will be very significant, not unanimous, but very significant.”

McConnell also said on Monday that Republicans are “absolutely” committed to NATO, when asked about reports that former President Trump has expressed wanting to pull the US out of NATO and whether the GOP still strongly support the alliance.

“Absolutely,” he said. “That’s not the majority view in the Republican party. Certainly not the majority view amongst Senate Republicans or House Republicans.”

McConnell led a US congressional delegation to Ukraine over the weekend and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv Saturday. McConnell was joined on the unannounced trip by Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, John Barrasso of Wyoming and John Cornyn of Texas.

McConnell and the other senators became the latest US officials to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded the eastern European nation in late February.

Russian forces fired long-range missiles over the last 24 hours that appeared to be targeting the Yavoriv military training facility near the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, a senior US defense official said Monday.

The official said there was “minimal damage” as a result of the strikes.

“I don't have perfect visibility on those strikes. They do appear to have been targeted at that training facility and again, what we what we can see from our perspective is minor damage to a few buildings,” the official said.

The leaders of Denmark, Iceland and Norway have welcomed Finland and Sweden's decision to apply for membership of NATO. 

"We strongly welcome Finland and Sweden’s decisions to apply for NATO membership," the three nations said in a joint statement.

More context: On Monday, the Swedish government announced its decision to apply for NATO membership after determining that membership "is the best way to protect Sweden’s security in light of the fundamentally changed security environment following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine."

Last week, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Finland must apply for membership "without delay" and will complete the steps it needs to on the national level "in the next couple of days."

The three nations stressed Monday that Finnish and Swedish security are "a matter of common concern to us all."  

"Should Finland or Sweden be victim of aggression on their territory before obtaining NATO membership, we will assist Finland and Sweden by all means necessary," the three nations pledged. 

They also vowed to do their "utmost to ensure a swift accession process, as Finland and Sweden already live up to the relevant criteria for NATO membership."

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre pledged in a separate statement to "further develop our Nordic defense cooperation."  

The Swedish government has said on its website that it has decided to apply for NATO membership.

The statement said the decision is based on a "security analysis" that the government invited "other Riksdag (parliament) parties to take part in." Its conclusions were presented in a report on May 13.

Earlier Monday, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said Sweden should join NATO together with neighboring Finland to "ensure the safety of Swedish people."

When asked when exactly the country will hand in the application, she said it could it happen this week — either Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. She added that it needs to be done in coordination with Finland.

President of the European Council Charles Michel commended Sweden and the Swedish prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, on deciding to join NATO, calling it a “decision for the benefit of collective security and defense.”

“EU contribution to NATO deterrence is increasingly invaluable,” he added.

Sweden should join NATO together with neighboring Finland to "ensure the safety of Swedish people," Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said Monday. 

Speaking during a joint news conference alongside Swedish opposition leader Ulf Kristersson in Stockholm Monday, Andersson emphasized that the current situation is "requiring" Sweden to join the military alliance. 

Andersson said the Swedish government had decided to apply to become a member of NATO. 

When asked when exactly the country will hand in the application, she said it could it happen this week — either Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. She added that it needs to be done in coordination with Finland.

President Vladimir Putin said Finland and Sweden's entry into NATO will not create a threat to Russia, but the "expansion of military infrastructure into this territory will certainly cause our response."

"As for the expansion of NATO, including through new members of the alliance which are Finland, Sweden — Russia has no problems with these states. Therefore, in this sense, expansion at the expense of these countries does not pose a direct threat to Russia," Putin said while speaking at the summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Moscow on Monday. 

According to the Russian leader, the NATO expansion is "artificial" as the alliance goes beyond its geographic purpose and is influencing other regions "not in the best way."

The Russian president said that CSTO plays a very important stabilizing role in the post-Soviet space and expressed the hope that the possibilities and influence of the organization will only increase in "these difficult times."

"I hope that the organization, which over the previous years has turned into a full-fledged international structure, will continue to develop. I mean, in these difficult times," Putin said. 

According to Putin, the leaders of the CSTO member countries on Monday will adopt a joint statement on military cooperation.

Putin added that he will inform the heads of states of the CSTO in detail about the course of the special military operation in Ukraine in the closed part of the summit.

Member states of the CSTO intend to hold a series of joint exercises this autumn, which will take place in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Putin said.

Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday, hours after Sweden formally submitted its bid to join NATO, that Russia "will be forced to take retaliatory steps, both of a military-technical and other nature, in order to stop the threats to its national security arising in this regard."

Russia has vehemently opposed Sweden's bid to join the alliance. The statement further added, "Sweden's entry into NATO will cause significant damage to the security of Northern Europe and the European continent as a whole."

“NATO membership will not increase the level of Sweden's security, if only because no one threatens the country, but it will certainly lead to the loss of sovereignty in making foreign policy decisions,” the statement continued.

The Scandinavian country has previously remained neutral and avoided conflict but by if it joins NATO, it will agree to take arms if need be to support other NATO members.

CNN's Aliza Kassim and Uliana Pavlova contributed reporting to this post.

Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist will travel to the United States Monday to meet with his US counterpart, US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin.

According to a statement on the Swedish Government's website, the meeting will take place on Wednesday after an invitation from the Pentagon.

Discussions will focus on “Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the security situation in Europe, bilateral cooperation and Sweden's upcoming application to join NATO,” the statement said. 

China's defense policies and consequences for the US and Sweden will also be discussed, it adds.

Hultqvist will also meet with a large number of members of the US Congress, according to the statement.

Finland and Sweden are poised to end decades of neutrality by joining NATO, a dramatic evolution in European security and geopolitics sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The two Nordic nations had long kept the military alliance at an arm's length, even while eying Russia to their east with caution.

But Moscow's assault on Ukraine has sparked renewed security concern across the region, and the leaders of each country have signaled their desire to join the bloc after more than 75 years of military non-alignment.

What's happened so far? Finnish leaders announced their intentions to join NATO on Thursday, and formally presented that desire at a press conference on Sunday.

In Sweden on Sunday, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson announced during a press conference her party's support for the country to apply to join NATO.

The move must be approved by a vote in parliament in each country, but given the support of the ruling governments, that hurdle is expected to be passed comfortably.

What comes next? NATO has what it calls an "open door policy" on new members -- any European country can request to join, so long as they meet certain criteria and all existing members agree.

A country does not technically "apply" to join; Article 10 of its founding treaty states that, once a nation has expressed interest, the existing member states "may, by unanimous agreement, invite any other European State in a position to further the principles of this Treaty ... to accede."

NATO diplomats told Reuters that ratification of new members could take a year, as the legislatures of all 30 current members must approve new applicants.

Both Finland and Sweden already meet many of the requirements for membership, which include having a functioning democratic political system based on a market economy; treating minority populations fairly; committing to resolve conflicts peacefully; the ability and willingness to make a military contribution to NATO operations; and committing to democratic civil-military relations and institutions.

The process may not be without hurdles; Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday he was not looking at both countries joining NATO "positively," accusing them of housing Kurdish "terrorist organizations."

In the meantime, both countries will have to rely on its current allies and partners for security guarantees, rather than Article 5 -- the clause which states an attack against one NATO nation is an attack against all, and which triggers a collective response in that event.

Sweden and Finland have received assurances of support from the United States and Germany should they come under attack, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed mutual security agreements with his Finnish and Swedish counterparts last week.

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