Kyiv Post Daily Thread – The Latest News From and About Ukraine on April 3

Finland's flag will be hoisted outside NATO headquarters on Tuesday when it becomes the newest member of the Western alliance, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

"Tomorrow we will welcome Finland as the 31st member," Stoltenberg told reporters on the eve of a historic meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's all-out invasion of Ukraine last year upended European security and pushed Finland – and its neighbour Sweden – to drop decades of non-alignment and seek to join NATO's protective umbrella.

Objections from Turkey and Hungary held up Helsinki's bid for months, and are still blocking Stockholm, before the parliament in Ankara cleared the final obstacle for Finland with a vote last week.

Completing the ratification in well under a year still makes this the fastest membership process in the alliance's recent history.

Now all that is left are the last highly choreographed formalities at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Finland's foreign minister will hand over the formal accession papers to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the keeper of NATO's founding treaty, and the country's blue-and-white flag will be raised alongside those of its new allies.

Finland's President Sauli Niinisto will speak at the event, Helsinki said. "President Putin went to war against Ukraine with a clear aim to get less NATO," Stoltenberg said.

Finland's flag will be hoisted outside NATO headquarters on Tuesday when it becomes the newest member of the Western alliance, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

"Tomorrow we will welcome Finland as the 31st member," Stoltenberg told reporters on the eve of a historic meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's all-out invasion of Ukraine last year upended European security and pushed Finland – and its neighbour Sweden – to drop decades of non-alignment and seek to join NATO's protective umbrella.

Objections from Turkey and Hungary held up Helsinki's bid for months, and are still blocking Stockholm, before the parliament in Ankara cleared the final obstacle for Finland with a vote last week.

Completing the ratification in well under a year still makes this the fastest membership process in the alliance's recent history.

Now all that is left are the last highly choreographed formalities at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Finland's foreign minister will hand over the formal accession papers to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the keeper of NATO's founding treaty, and the country's blue-and-white flag will be raised alongside those of its new allies.

Finland's President Sauli Niinisto will speak at the event, Helsinki said. "President Putin went to war against Ukraine with a clear aim to get less NATO," Stoltenberg said.

 Russian investigators said Monday they have detained a suspect over a bomb blast in a cafe in Russia's second city that killed a top military blogger and supporter of Russia's campaign in Ukraine.

 "Darya Trepova has been detained on suspicion of involvement in the explosion in a cafe in St Petersburg," Russia's Investigative Committee said on Telegram, following the attack on Sunday.

 Read the full story here. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is to make an official visit to Warsaw on Wednesday, said Poland, announcing one of his few trips outside his nation battling Russia's invasion.

An explosion at a cafe in Russia's second-largest city of Saint Petersburg has killed a prominent pro-Kremlin military blogger and injured 25 others.

What happened?

 Russian authorities have said "an unidentified explosive device" on Sunday evening at the Street Food Bar No. 1 café - café – reportedly belonging to Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin – located along the Neva river not far from the historic city centre.

 Read the full story here.