spring, an important discussion on finland s possible nato membership has taken place and time has been needed to let parliament and the whole society establish their stand on the matter. we have wanted to give the discussion the space it required. it goes on and says, now that the moment of decision making is near, we state our equal views, also for information to the parliamentary groups and parties, nato membership would strengthen finland s security. as a member of nato, it would strengthen the defense alliance and must apply for membership without delay. we hope the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days. now, so, that s, that s the gist of it, it s quite extraordinary, the speed at which this has
and he said when he thought it comes to a vote in parliament of 200 members, 180 would at least vote in favor of joining the nato membership. this was a small step to go. but it was a big and significant announcement given everything that we know. we know the prime minuister s party on saturday is going to make a decision and it s clearly going to support nato membership and on sunday we are expecting the five-party coalition that runs the country to make their decision about nato membership and again, expected to be on the same foreign affairs committee and expected to present the parliament next week and yes, this will, this will realize president putin s fears in his mind, it s not an action against russia. the finnish president was keen to state that, it s an action against finland security, it s
moved as we have been discussing. and of course, what this will mean for russia, is it puts nato right at its doorstop. really, this, this has been the problem and the trigger for russia invading ukraine and now, the problem will be how russia will respond to this? yes, and we have had a lot of discussion in the last few days about, you know, we have heard from president biden saying that he gets a sense that president putin is boxed in by his actions in ukraine because they are not successful, he does not see an off ramp, finland and sweden joining nato. let s just analyze one second what we have heard there from the president and prime minister. it s them saying this is the right move. we know that about 3/4 of the population here agree with that, and i spoke to somebody in the prime minister and np within the prime minister s party yesterday
milestone. putin s war back fires. with fin land moving closer to joining nalto, could russia retaliate as the kremlin cuts off gas to europe. we re following a number of severe weather stories. dangerous storms in parts of the country. raging wildfires damage dozens of million dollar homes out west. and how a two decade drought is eroding one of america s most iconic reservoirs. news on the triple crown, the announcement from the underdog winner of the kentucky derby. and finally tonight, you have to see this video. the good sam tar samaritans who bring a woman suffering a medical emergency behind the wheel to safety. sth is the this is the cbs evening news with norah o donnell, reporting from the nation s capital. o donnell: good evening, and thank you so much for joining us on this thursday night. we want to begin with a crisis many say shouldn t be happening
ukraine and a maidgesser development today. far from the battle fields, finland says it is applying to join nato and sweden is expected to quickly follow, possibly expanding the western military alliance to 32 nations. one of the reasons vladimir putin attacked ukraine was to block it from joining nato. and tonight russia is lashing out. we get more from charlie d agata urnerey nlansto aims,ierce batta has pulled the trigger on another weapon in on its arsenal effectively cutting off gas supplies to europe a day after the ukrainian government halted gas transfers through its territories. you you cranian forces have launched a blistering counter attack outside kharkiv recapturing villages surrounding ukraine s second largest city. running gun battles, street fights, pushing soldiers back, ad cutting off critical supply