February 27, 2024 - Russia-Ukraine news

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Ukraine’s National Resistance Center, an official body, said Tuesday that Ukrainian resistance forces blew up an office of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “United Russia” party in the occupied southern Ukrainian city of Nova Kakhovka in Kherson region.

The National Resistance Center which is run by Ukraine’s Special Forces said the attack was carried out in order “to stop the fake election process in the captured city” as the preparations are underway for the Russian presidential elections in March.

The Center of National Resistance called on citizens of Ukraine who are currently residing on the occupied territories, not to participate in the upcoming Russian election and warned that “every collaborator who helps organize the ‘election process’ will be held accountable for their actions.”?

Marina Zakharova, the head of the Russian-appointed Electoral Commission of the Kherson region, said in a video message on Tuesday that “as a result of a terrorist attack by Ukraine” in Nova Kakhovka “the premises of precinct commissions were damaged.”?

Zakharova said that Tuesday was “the first day of early voting in the presidential elections in hard-to-reach and remote settlements, including those located along the line of military contact.”

This was not the first incident when Ukraine was trying to sabotage the election sights on Tuesday, according to Zakharova. She said “an enemy shell exploded near the territorial election commission in the Holoprystanskyi municipal district,” which is in Kherson region as well.

Vladimir?Saldo, the Russian-appointed acting head of the Kherson region administration, also confirmed the attacks but claimed they were carried out by drones. Saldo said there were no victims following the attacks and posted the video of the destruction on the cites to his Telegram channel.

One of Alexey Navalny’s lawyers was released after being detained in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, according to Vasily Dubkov’s comment to the Russian Independent media Verstka, following his release.

Dubkov was the lawyer who flew with Navalny’s mother to Salekhard — the Siberian town where Navalny’s body was being kept in a morgue — in order to receive official confirmation of his death, according to Verstka.

Dubkov “did not comment on the reason and circumstances of his detention, saying only that he considered it to be an obstruction of his lawyer’s activities,” Verstka said.

CNN cannot independently verify Verstka’s reporting.

Navalny’s three other lawyers — Vadim Kobzev, Alexey Liptser and Igor Sergunin — were arrested in October 2023 and accused of “being members of an extremist community,” according to Navalny’s team.

The Basmanny court in Moscow ordered the arrest in absentia of Navalny’s other lawyer Olga Mikhailova and Alexander Fedulov on the same charge on February 15, according to the courts of general jurisdiction of the city of Moscow.

Britain’s prosecution service has charged a sixth person for allegedly spying for Russia in the UK.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement Tuesday that Bulgarian national Tihomir Ivanchev, 38, was charged with conspiring to collect information “which might be or was intended to be directly or indirectly useful for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state.”

In September last year, the CPS charged five other Bulgarian nationals for alleged conspiracy to conduct espionage.

“A sixth suspect was identified and arrested as a result of enquiries made following the previous five arrests in this investigation,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, who leads the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command.

Ivanchev was arrested on February 7 as part of an ongoing investigation being led by the terrorism command, the police said in a?statement.

He was subsequently bailed, and then charged on Tuesday. The Bulgarian national will appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, according to the police. The trial for the other five charged under the same alleged offense is due to start in October, according to the CPS.

Oleg Orlov attends his verdict hearing in Moscow on February 27, 2024.

Oleg?Orlov, a Russian human rights activist and co-chairman of Memorial Human Rights Defense Center, was sentenced to two years and six months in a general regime correctional colony, the courts of general jurisdiction of the city of Moscow said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Golovinsky District Court of Moscow found Orlov guilty of “discrediting the military” and Orlov was denied the right to access Internet and post on social media for the duration of his sentence, according to the statement posted on the court’s Telegram page.?

Orlov was taken into custody in the courtroom following the verdict, the statement read. In his “final word” addressed to the court on Monday, Orlov said he was “shocked” by the news about the death of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny.

Orlov also said he believes Navalny was murdered “regardless of the specific circumstances of this death.”

The Kremlin has denied any role in Navalny’s death.

Orlov said he?“has been on trial for an article?that?he had written more than a year ago,” referring to his article entitled?“They wanted fascism. They got it” that he wrote?in November 2022 for a French publication.?He later reposted that article on his Facebook page.

In that article Orlov criticized the current political regime in Russia and called it “totalitarian and fascist.”

The Memorial Human Rights Defense Center?was banned in Russia in late 2021?and the Russian Justice Ministry designated Oleg Orlov a “foreign agent” on February 2, 2024.

French President Emmanuel Macron did not rule out sending Western troops to fight on the ground as Ukraine comes under more pressure from Russian advances. Macron’s comments have prompted many European nations to quickly allay any domestic fears their countries may be sending soldiers to the war-torn region on Tuesday.

The US State Department reiterated that President Joe Biden has ruled out sending US troops to fight in Ukraine, in response to Macron’s comments.

Macron’s comments also caused a clash among French oppositions leaders, despite France’s defense minister is defending Macron. “To say that we exclude nothing is neither weak nor escalatory,” French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu told the country’s lawmakers Tuesday.

On the ground Tuesday, Ukraine lost its third village within a week on the eastern front. A spokesperson for a grouping of Ukrainian forces said they withdrew from the villages of Sieverne and Stepove, which are both west of the town of Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region.?On Monday, Ukrainian forces?retreated from the?village of Lastochkyne,?both sides confirmed.

Here’s what else to know today:

French opposition lawmakers clashed with members of the government including Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Tuesday over President Emmanuel Macron saying he wouldn’t rule out the deployment of Western troops to Ukraine.?

Macron’s comments raised eyebrows from several European leaders who moved quickly to stress their opposition to any deployment. On top of that, the French president has also had to contend with fierce criticism from a number of opposition lawmakers at home who said a French deployment would constitute belligerency.?

Marine Le Pen, who is a key figure within the far-right National Rally party, initially criticized Macron’s comments in a social media post on Tuesday, accusing the president of playing the “war leader.”?

She later clashed with the French prime minister during a parliamentary session where she described the president’s remarks?as “extremely serious” and “another step” towards “co-belligerence.”??

Le Pen said a deployment of French troops to Ukraine would be taking place despite France’s “vital interests” not being “at stake.”?

Attal highlighted Le Pen’s prior ties to Russia and President Vladimir Putin, casting doubt on her credibility as someone who “simply refuses to recognize that there is a war being waged by an authoritarian country, a country where opponents are dying in jails, and that is Russia.”

The US State Department reiterated that President Joe Biden has ruled out sending US troops to fight in Ukraine, in response to French President Emmanuel Macron saying sending Western troops to Ukraine “cannot be ruled out.”

He also called on Congress to pass additional funding for lethal aid to Ukraine. “We think that the path to victory for Ukraine right now is in the United States House of Representatives,” Miller said.?

President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with congressional leaders in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday in Washington, DC.

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called a White House meeting with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and fellow congressional leaders “one of the most intense” he’d ever experienced, attributing the intensity to a sense of “urgency.”

Schumer said that he — along with the president, the vice president, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell — “made it clear how vital this was to the United States.”

It comes amid pressure on House Speaker Mike Johnson to commit to sending aid to Ukraine. Schumer expressed frustration that Johnson was tying the aid package to the US southern border, saying Democrats “have a tough secure border plan.” He said Johnson “tried to do (a) border (deal) for six months and couldn’t come up with a single Democratic vote.”?

What Johnson says: The House speaker told reporters at the White House Tuesday that he believes Congress “must take care of America’s needs first,” before addressing foreign aid, including specifically addressing the situation at the border. Johnson has refused to hold a vote on a bipartisan Senate bill that includes funding for the border in addition to aid for Ukraine and Gaza.

Schumer also said that the group discussed how failure to support Ukraine could leave NATO fractured and turn allies away from US leadership. “The presidents of North Korea and Iran would be emboldened in thinking that the United States was this soft, fat country that lost its way and would take advantage,” Schumer added.

Schumer led a congressional delegation to Ukraine at the end of last week, and he said the trip left him “shaken” because Ukrainians are “fighting without arms against a brutal dictator.”

The question of Kyiv’s allies sending troops to Ukraine is a “debate that we must have,” an Elysee Palace source told journalists on Tuesday.

It comes after French President Emmanuel Macron said he did not rule out?sending Western troops into Ukraine.

Macron was signaling his determination to Russian President Vladimir Putin and France’s desire to block any victory of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the source said, underlining that the French president did not say that he would send troops and that no decision has been made regarding such a deployment.?

The French government has called for a debate in the National Assembly to discuss France’s security relationship with Ukraine, and the source said that the debate will discuss how the war in Ukraine affects France.

If the situation in Ukraine deteriorates, the source said: “We must consider the effects for French security.”

French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu arrives at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Tuesday.

France’s defense minister is defending the French president’s refusal to rule out troop deployments to Ukraine, following diplomatic outcry over the possibility of Western boots on the ground in Ukraine.

“To say that we exclude nothing is neither weak nor escalatory,” French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu told the country’s lawmakers Tuesday.

He added that during the conference in Paris on Monday, European leaders proposed different ideas to bolster aid to Ukraine, including broadening de-mining assistance in Ukraine and boosting the training of Ukrainian troops. However, there was no consensus for such measures, Lecornu added.

The minister underlined that such plans were distinct from getting into war with Moscow.

US President Joe Biden stressed the “urgent” need for Ukraine aid ahead of his meeting with top congressional leaders at the White House Tuesday.

Some context: On Saturday,?Biden?urged House Speaker Mike Johnson and members of Congress to return from a two-week break and?pass much-needed aid for Ukraine.

The speaker?has resisted calls?to bring a Senate-passed aid package up for a quick vote — a move that would almost certainly spark a revolt from some members of his own party. While visiting Ukraine last week, Senate Majority Leader?Chuck Schumer?also called on House Republicans to pass the aid bill.

Ukrainian President?Volodymyr?Zelensky,?arrives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on February 27, 2024.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Saudi Arabia for talks on his country’s peace plan with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, he said on social media Tuesday.

The Ukrainian president also said he would lean on Saudi Arabia to help broker the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war.

“The second topic is the return of POWs and deportees. The Kingdom’s leadership has already contributed to the release of our people,” he said. “I am confident that this meeting will also yield results.”

Zelensky’s “peace formula”: Back in November 2022, Zelensky presented a 10-point peace plan to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a video speech to G20 leaders in Bali. The steps include a path to nuclear safety, food security, a special tribunal for alleged Russian war crimes and a final peace treaty with Moscow.

The Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez petroleum refinery, operated by OAO Lukoil, is seen in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on December 15, 2011.

Russia is introducing a six-month ban on gasoline exports, starting on March 1, to offset increased demand as well as lower output while some refineries undergo repairs, following Ukrainian strikes on some refineries, according to Russian news agencies.

Repairs are being undertaken at a number of refineries after a series of “accidents,” namely at Nizhny Novgorod, Tuapse and Ilsky facilities, according to Russian state media RIA.

Despite Russian state news outlets reporting the repairs as caused by “a number of accidents,” Ukrainian drone strikes had been reported at the Tuapse and Ilsky facilities, located relatively close to Ukraine’s borders.

The Nizhny Novgorod refinery — Russia’s fourth largest in terms of volume — was twice damaged by fire, in the space of a month, according to RIA.

Following a meeting of European leaders in Paris on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said that sending Western troops to Ukraine “cannot be ruled out.”

His comments have drawn a swift response from various leaders, with one clear message: that will not be happening.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that conflict with Russia would be inevitable if Western nations sent troops into Ukraine.

Here’s what other countries have to say:

The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that Moscow’s forces have taken control of the settlement of Sieverne, west of the town of Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region.?

Footage shared on social media and geolocated by CNN showed Russian forces inside the small settlement. Pro-Ukrainian military bloggers have also reported the loss of the village.

“Our units withdrew from the small villages of Sieverne and Stepove,” the spokesperson for the Tavria operational and strategic group, Dmytro Lykhovii, said during a national broadcast Tuesday.

Oleksandr Tarnavsky, who leads a group of Ukrainian troops, also said Ukraine has stabilized the front line in the area of the settlements of Tonenke, Orlivka and Berdychi.

Remember: On Monday, Ukrainian forces?retreated from the?village of Lastochkyne,?both sides confirmed. Russian forces are intensifying attacks and continuing to push west. Lastochkyne is also located near Avdiivka, where Russia raised its flag?on February 18.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg delivers the opening remarks during a NATO video summit on Russia's invasion of Ukraine at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on February 25, 2022.

NATO is not planning to deploy combat troops on the ground in Ukraine, a NATO official told CNN on Tuesday.?

“NATO and Allies are providing unprecedented military support to Ukraine. We have done that since 2014, and we stepped up after Russia’s full-scale invasion,” the official said. “But there are no plans for NATO combat troops on the ground in Ukraine.”

The official added that NATO would continue to support Ukraine as it has up until now.?

“We must remember what this is: a war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine, blatantly violating international law,” the official said. “According to international law, Ukraine has the right to self-defence, and we have the right to support them. That is what NATO Allies are doing and will continue to do.”

The response comes after French President Emmanuel Macron said he could not rule out the deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine.

German Chancellor?Olaf?Scholz?attends a groundbreaking ceremony at the new Freiburg-Dietenbach development in Freiburg, Germany, on February 27.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has made a clear statement on any potential plans to send troops to Ukraine, saying “there will be no ground troops.”

His comments come after French President Emmanuel Macron said he could not rule out the possibility of Western countries sending troops to Ukraine on Monday.

“It is important to keep reassuring ourselves of this,” he added.

Scholz also said “this good, detailed discussion” was held in Paris, and said the summit was “very unanimous on this issue.”

Alexey Navalny’s team is struggling to find a venue to hold a farewell ceremony for the Russian opposition leader, with one funeral venue saying they were prohibited from working with them, his spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, revealed on Tuesday.

“Since [Monday] we have been looking for a venue where we can say goodbye to Alexey,” Yarmysh wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We called most private and public funeral agencies, commercial sites and funeral halls.”?

According to Yarmysh, despite efforts, most agencies and sites contacted have either claimed the space is occupied or refused them as soon as Navalny’s name is mentioned, in one instance citing a direct prohibition on working with Navalny’s team.

On Monday, Yarmysh announced plans for a public farewell ceremony for Navalny at the end of the work week, urging those with suitable premises to reach out to the team.?

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico speaks to the media on January 24, in Berlin, Germany.

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico warned Monday that proposals by Western states to send troops to Ukraine, “even if only on a bilateral level,” would lead to a?“significant escalation of tensions.”?

After the meeting of European leaders in Paris on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that sending Western troops to Ukraine “cannot be ruled out.”

But, he said there was “no agreement this evening to officially?send?troops onto the ground.”?

In a post published after the meeting, Fico said he found the “purely combat atmosphere” at the meeting supporting the war?“disappointing,” and that his government “will never agree to send Slovak troops to the war in Ukraine.”

CNN has reached out to Fico’s office for further comment.?

Meanwhile, the head of the German Green party which is part of the ruling coalition, Omid Nouripour, has also sought to allay fears of sending troops to Ukraine, saying “I saw a humorous?Macron?who simply wanted to say: I don’t want to rule out anything.”

Nouipour said the idea of sending German troops was not up for debate: “It is not an issue at all. It is not an issue in the discussion in Germany and also not in an alliance.”

That sentiment was echoed by Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who said the country was not prepared to send either weapons or soldiers to Ukraine.

“The war must be ended,?not?deepened and widened,” he said in a post on Facebook.

CNN’s Chris Stern in?Berlin?and Stephanie Halasz contributed to this report.

The Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on May 30, 2018.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that conflict with Russia would be inevitable if Western nations sent troops into Ukraine.

He said those governments should consider whether the move was in their country’s interests.?

“These countries must also assess and be aware of this, asking themselves whether this is in their interests, as well as the interests of the citizens of their countries,” he told journalists during a daily call on Tuesday.?

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said he did not rule out sending Western troops into Ukraine to support Kyiv.

Mike Johnson talks to reporters during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, DC. on February 14.

House Speaker Mike Johnson?has the fate of a democracy and a people in his hands.

It’s not the United States, which will survive even if the coming general election results in another existential test for the constitutional system.

Johnson has the power to save Ukraine, two years after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded, decreeing that it didn’t have the right to exist.

Ukraine’s soldiers are running out of bullets. There are signs that Russia may be about to break a stalemate and tip the war its way.

Johnson, a backbencher who was the last-ditch choice to lead the mutinous House GOP majority last year, could relieve Ukraine’s agony and help ensure its survival as an independent nation in the coming days.

He could allow a vote on a bill that includes $60 billion in aid that the Pentagon says is needed for Kyiv to continue to fight effectively. It would likely pass with a comfortable bipartisan majority.

The Louisiana Republican’s reluctance to do so is a commentary on?the growing power of GOP front-runner Donald Trump, the sharp turn of his party away from its globalist pro-democracy heritage, and perhaps even his own ambition since borrowing Democratic votes to finance Ukraine’s defense could cost him the speakership.

His predicament will be highlighted at a meeting of the top four congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday called by President Joe Biden.

Read more on Johnson’s role in deciding Ukraine aid.

Sweden has cleared a final hurdle in its bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after Hungary approved its accession to the alliance.

Sweden and Finland sought to join the alliance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, abandoning the decades-long policy of non-alignment. Sweden can expect that Russia will “not like” the country’s accession to NATO, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the move toward?Sweden’s membership, and said that Ukraine is looking forward “to working closely with Sweden and other NATO allies to advance Ukraine’s NATO membership.”

A decision to admit Ukraine would extend the sacred NATO pledge that an attack on one member is an attack on all to a nation Russia regards, at a minimum, as part of its sphere of influence

Here are the top headlines:

President Joe Biden delivers remarks from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC. on February 16.

President Joe Biden will convene the top four congressional leaders on Tuesday as the White House?ratchets up pressure?on lawmakers to pass additional funding to Ukraine, and ahead of a partial government shutdown deadline this week.

The meeting – which will include Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries – comes at a pivotal moment following Johnson’s resistance to Ukraine aid.

Biden has repeatedly framed the need to support the country against Russia as a matter of national security abroad and at home.

In the face of congressional inaction on a?package that includes $60 billion?in aid to Ukraine, the president has directed his team to make the consequences “abundantly clear,” a US official told CNN.

Read the full story here.

Ulf Kristersson attends a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden, on February 26.

Sweden can expect that Russia will “not like” the country’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Monday.

Kristersson highlighted that Russia’s ambitions to limit NATO expansion have backfired, and also noted the historic nature of his country’s ascension into the alliance.

Earlier on Monday, Hungary’s parliament approved Sweden’s bid to join NATO, clearing the last hurdle for the country to become the 32nd member of the military alliance.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine on February 25.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the Hungarian parliament’s vote to approve?Sweden’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership on Monday.

Zelensky said Ukraine is looking forward “to working closely with Sweden and other NATO allies to advance Ukraine’s NATO membership.”

More background: A decision to admit Ukraine would extend the sacred NATO pledge that an attack on one member is an attack on all to a nation Russia regards, at a minimum, as part of its sphere of influence — even if such a claim has no basis in international law. It would commit future Western leaders to go to war with nuclear-armed Russia and potentially risk a third World War if the Kremlin attacked its neighbor again.

French President?Emmanuel?Macron?speaks during a press conference in support of Ukraine, with European leaders and government representatives, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France on Monday.

Sending Western troops to Ukraine “cannot be ruled out,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday after hosting a conference in Paris where European leaders discussed the prospect.

There was “no agreement this evening to officially?send?troops onto the ground but we cannot exclude anything,” he told reporters.

The aid conference for Ukraine brought together representatives of the European Union’s 27 member countries including 21 heads of state and governments, he said.

“We will do anything we can to prevent Russia from winning this war,” Macron said. “And I say this with determination, but also with a collective humility that we need to have, in the light of the last two years.”

Macron also announced a new coalition would be set up to supply medium and long-range “missiles and bombs” to Ukraine.

EU leaders and government representatives “decided to step up the munitions side and produce tangible results very quickly” across the eight coalitions that already exist, he said.

Read more on Macron’s comments here.

The US State Department would not comment on reports of a potential prisoner swap with Russia for the release of Alexey Navalny.

Miller would not say whether such a deal would have included Paul Whelan or Evan Gershkovich — Americans detained in Russia.

CNN reported earlier that there were early discussions underway involving a prisoner exchange for Navalny and US citizens, a Western official told CNN on Monday — but no formal offer had been made before Navalny’s death.

There were early discussions underway involving a prisoner exchange for Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny and US citizens, but no formal offer had been made before Navalny’s death, a Western official told CNN on Monday.

Navalny’s team said earlier on Monday that an offer had been made and was in the final stages to release Navalny in exchange for Vadim Krasikov, a convicted Russian assassin imprisoned in Germany.

The source said the early discussions were between the United States and Germany.

The Western official did not say whether the early discussions involved Krasikov, nor did they say which US citizens were involved.

However, they likely involved the two Americans who have been designated as wrongfully detained in Russia – Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan.

The German government declined to comment on the Navalny team’s statement. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “I know nothing about such an agreement.”

Alexey Navalny, his wife Yulia, and other demonstrators march in downtown Moscow on February 29, 2020.

A public farewell to Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny is expected to be held at the end of this working week, spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said Monday in a post on social media.?

Navalny’s mother had previously said was being pressured into having a secret burial.

Yarmysh added that the late politician’s aides are actively searching for a venue to host the farewell and called upon those with suitable premises to get in touch with the team.

Navalny’s body was handed over to his mother last Saturday, nine days after news of his passing and following widespread public demands for the prompt return of his remains to the family.

People in cities across Russia have been gathering for impromptu vigils for over a week, laying flowers to monuments to victims of repression.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor?Orban?speaks during the spring session of parliament in Budapest, Hungary, February 26.

Hungary’s parliament approved Sweden’s bid to join NATO on Monday, clearing the last hurdle for the country to become the 32nd?member of the US-led military alliance.

The vote passed with 188 members of parliament in favor and six against. In total, 194 members voted.

Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs?said that he is sure Sweden will be “a strong and reliable ally” who will benefit the NATO alliance.?

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson celebrated the vote.

Sweden applied to be a NATO member in May 2022 after Russia launched its full-scale?invasion of Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also welcomed the vote, saying “Sweden’s membership will make us all stronger and safer.”

With Sweden’s accession, NATO will count 32 countries among its members, an ironic twist given that Russia launched its war against Ukraine in part due to the alliance’s growth in Eastern Europe along Russia’s border.

CNN’s Stephanie Halasz contributed reporting to this post.