Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin, announcing their positions after weeks of internal deliberations, said the militarily nonaligned nation must “apply for NATO membership without delay.”

“As a member of NATO, Finland would strengthen the entire defence alliance,” they said in a statement. The decision, which must be approved by Finland’s Parliament, is expected to be finalized in coming days.

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Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said President Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine illustrates the Russian leader’s willingness to send troops into neighboring nations and has dramatically altered the security outlook — not only for Finland. “The war started by Russia jeopardizes the security and stability of the whole of Europe,” he told European lawmakers.

It was not immediately clear what steps NATO nations might take to protect Finland and Sweden from any retaliation by Russia until they are formally brought under NATO’s mutual defense umbrella. That process, Western officials have said, could be completed by the time leaders of the alliance gather in Spain in late June.

Thijs Reuten, Dutch MEP says Finland decision to join the NATO Alliance is a historical moment!

M.J.A. "Thijs" Reuten is a Dutch politician of the Labour Party. He began his career as a policy advisor of the party's parliamentary group in the House of Representatives and was a member of the Amsterdam municipal council in the years 2002–07.

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Finland’s entry would add significant combat power to the alliance while also deepening the East-West divisions that have consumed Europe since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion. Neighboring Sweden is expected to announce its own NATO bid soon.

Finland must seek immediate membership in NATO, leaders of the Nordic nation said on Thursday, moving to end seven decades outside the Western military bloc in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Moscow said that Finnish accession, which would add hundreds of miles to NATO’s shared border with Russia, would threaten its security. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Finnish membership could require new measures by Russia to “balance the situation.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday announced new measures to bolster Finland and Sweden’s security, including greater intelligence sharing and joint training.

In a sign of increasing global concern about the war, the United Nations voted Thursday to deepen an investigation of alleged human rights violations during Russia’s offensive, now focused on Ukraine’s east and south after a failed attempt to capture the capital, Kyiv.

The vote by members of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva was aimed at focusing an existing probe on events around Kyiv and other areas that were occupied by Russian forces early in the conflict. In many places, the withdrawal of Russian troops was followed by the discovery of widespread civilian deaths, including cases of apparent execution and torture.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said that more than 1,000 civilian bodies had been recovered around Kyiv and that U.N. officials are collecting evidence about incidents that “may amount to war crimes.”

“These killings of civilians often appeared to be intentional, carried out by snipers and soldiers,” she said in a video message.

The war has prompted more than 6 million people to flee Ukraine since late February, creating a new refugee crisis as waves of Ukrainians, mostly women and children, pour westward into Europe and into other areas. About 1.6 million Ukrainians have returned as conditions have stabilized around Kyiv and in the west, new data from the U.N. refugee agency shows.

Moscow is seeking to solidify control of eastern areas where Russian-backed separatists have staged a prolonged fight against Kyiv. The Kremlin also wants to control coastal areas that would create a land bridge from Russian territory to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

The coastal city of Mariupol has been particularly pulverized by Russian bombardment. A focal point of that fight has been around the massive Azovstal steel plant, where civilians and Ukrainian fighters holed up amid heavy shelling.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that “very difficult negotiations” were ongoing with Russia to permit the evacuation of 38 wounded Ukrainian fighters from the plant as part of a potential prisoner swap.

“We work step by step,” Vereshchuk wrote on Telegram.

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