Finnish president says his country will apply to join NATO; more U.S. weapons 'on the way' to Ukraine - CNBC

Finland will apply to join the NATO military alliance, the country's president said Sunday.

Joining the military alliance will "maximize" Finland's security after Russia's unprecedented invasion of Ukraine in February, President Sauli Niinisto said.

Russia has likely lost a third of its combat forces shipped into Ukraine as its campaign in the Donbas region continues to "lose momentum," British military intelligence said Sunday.

Meanwhile, as shelling picked up Sunday in the Lviv region, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy remained hopeful that a Russian retreat is on the horizon.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said he expected the Senate to vote on $40 billion in proposed aid to Ukraine on Wednesday after holding a related procedural vote on Monday.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said that Finland and Sweden would be "important additions" to NATO as he led a delegation of GOP senators to the region in a show of support against Russia's aggression.

McConnell also called on President Joe Biden to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism over its invasion of Ukraine.

The measure includes $6 billion for Ukraine for intelligence, equipment and training for its forces, plus $4 billion in financing to help Ukraine and NATO allies build up their militaries.

McConnell said it is in America's interest to support Ukraine as he brushed aside criticism from some fellow Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, about the level of spending.

McConnell said he told Zelenskyy that there is vast bipartisan support in Congress for helping Ukraine.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and a delegation of GOP senators are due to visit Helsinki on Monday for talks with Finland's president as the previously neutral Nordic nation bordering Russia seeks NATO membership.

McConnell is a staunch supporter of the Western military alliance, and the visit by the Republicans who made a surprise stopover the weekend to Ukraine's capital delivers a show of American support for the region as Ukraine battles the Russian invasion.

The office of Finland's president, Sauli Niinisto, said Sunday that McConnell and Sens.

Susan Collins of Maine, John Barrasso of Wyoming and John Cornyn of Texas will meet to discuss Finland's NATO membership, the Ukraine war and other issues.

STOCKHOLM — Sweden's ruling Social Democrats said on Sunday they backed the country joining NATO, abandoning decades of opposition in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and creating a large parliament majority in favor of membership.

NATO's willingness to embrace Finland and Sweden into the military alliance shows the entity has learned from its historic treatment of Ukraine, Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine's deputy prime minster for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, said on ABC's "This Week.".

"The response from the allies — that this application will be considered and fulfilled immediately — only serves one very obvious argument: NATO has learned on the mistakes and the political mistakes which had been done back in 2008 in making promises without delivering on decisions," Stefanishyna said, contending that Ukraine's absence from NATO made it more vulnerable to Russian aggression.

That has not happened, and Ukrainian officials including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have increased their demands for membership since Russia's invasion began in February.

Finland, which shares a more-than-800-mile border with Russia, said Sunday it plans to formally apply for NATO membership.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared "calm and cool" during a phone call discussing Finland's bid to join NATO, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto told CNN's "State of the Union.".

"In the same way he confirmed that he thinks it's a mistake, we are not threatening you, altogether, the discussion was very, would I say, calm and cool," Niinisto said.

The comments from Niinisto come just days after Russia said it would take "retaliatory steps" as Finland looks to sidestep years of neutrality and join NATO.

Finland's attempt to join NATO faces potential obstacles from Turkey as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the country does not "hold positive views" on the addition of Finland and Sweden.

In a press conference alongside Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, President Sauli Niinisto said the country will apply for membership of NATO.

Joining the military alliance will "maximize" Finland's security after Russia's unprecedented invasion of Ukraine in February, he added.

The governor of the region of Lviv, home to the largest city in western Ukraine, said a military facility nearby has been destroyed by Russian missiles.

NATO's deputy secretary general said Sunday that if Finland and Sweden decide to apply to join the military alliance, "will be able to welcome them.".

"I am confident that if these two countries will decide, in the next few days I understand, to seek membership in NATO, that [we] will be able to welcome them and to find all conditions for consensus to be met," he said.

Turkey joined NATO in 1952, and has the second-largest military in the 30-member alliance after the United States. .

Meanwhile, Finland's leaders on Thursday called for NATO membership "without delay" and neighboring Sweden is expected to follow suit, leaving it all but certain that the Scandinavian countries would soon abandon their traditional positions of neutrality toward both NATO and Russia in favor of joining the mutual defense pact.

Ukraine's military said the Russian forces were pulling back from the northeastern city of Kharkiv and focusing on guarding supply routes, while launching mortar, artillery and airstrikes in the eastern province of Donetsk in order to "deplete Ukrainian forces and destroy fortifications."

Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Ukraine was "entering a new — long-term — phase of the war."

Christopher Steele, a former MI6 officer and author of the Russian dossier on former President Donald Trump, told Sky News that his sources have said Russian President Vladimir Putin is "quite seriously ill" though the nature of the illness remains unclear

His comments come after Ukrainian Major General Kyrylo Budanov, in a separate interview with Sky News, said Putin is seriously ill with cancer and that a coup to remove him is under way in Russia