Russia hits east Ukraine, Finland moves toward joining NATO

RUSSIAN forces pounded areas in Ukraine’s east on Thursday, including the last pocket of resistance in besieged Mariupol, as a war that is redrawing Europe’s security map pushed Russia’s neighbor Finland closer to joining NATO.

Even as the globe-shaking repercussions of the invasion spread, the conflict on the ground slogged on, with Ukraine’s military recapturing some towns and villages in the country’s northeast but acknowledging that Russian forces have seen “partial success” farther south in the eastern industrial heartland of the Donbas.

Finland’s president and prime minister said Thursday that the Nordic country should apply “without delay” for membership in the Western alliance, founded in part to counter the Soviet Union. The announcement means Finland is all but certain to apply to — and be accepted in — the military alliance whose members are committed to mutual defense, though the process could take months to complete. Neighboring Sweden could do the same within days.

Russia’s