and the spectre of a resurgent russian imperialism has driven finland into full alignment with the western military alliance, and is redrawing the security map of europe. allan little, bbc news, finland. i ll show you will be aware it s the revision time. eurovision. eurovision song contest favourites ukraine have been voted through to the final on saturday, following the first semi final which has been heldf in the italian city of turin. the band delivered an energetic performance of their song, stefania, to secure a place in the final. at the end of the performance, the folk rap group thanked everyone for supporting ukraine amid the russian invasion. earlier one of its members told the bbc why taking part was so important. translation: for our country it s important translation: for our country it s important to translation: for our country it s important to have - it s important to have victories and always so if we win it ll be another opportunity to show ukraine to the worl
with the western military alliance and is redrawing the security map of europe. allan little, bbc news, finland. so what next for finland and sweden? and what would joining nato mean for europe? a little earlier, i spoke with former finnish prime minister alex stubb. and i asked him how quickly timeline could be pushed through. how quick the timeline. i think it begins on thursday morning, with an announcement by the president, followed by the prime minister. the government takes an official decision over the weekend, and then a joint decision with sweden next week. so you would expect sweden to join at the same time? definitely. i think it s going to be quite a fast track procedure, so we ll see the nato council take an issue with the two applications by the end of the month, and then it s up to the member states to ratify finnish and swedish nato membership, hopefully within a few months. as you say, it s a seismic decision and it will undoubtedly affect finland s relationship wit
welcome back to the programme. it s widely expected that finland and sweden will announce in the coming week that they are joining nato. a decision would significantly redraw the security map of europe and will be seen in moscow as a hostile act. stopping ukraine from joining nato was one of the principle reasons vladimir putin invaded ukraine, his special operation part of a broader plan to scare other nations from joining the treaty. but it may have backfired spectacularly. nato membership was never seriously considered in stockholm and helsinki until russian forces attacked ukraine. now it is seems almost inevitable. finland brings f35 fighterjets, sweden patriot missile batteries. both, of course, are experts in arctic warfare, training intensively to fight and survive in the frozen forests of scandinavia. from finland, our special correspondent allan little sent this report. archive: little finland is putting up such a savage defence - as the modern world has rarely seen.
the second men s golf major of the year gets underway next week. just like the masters last month, all the talk ahead of the us pga is about tiger woods. the 15 time major winner has been named in the 156 man field for the championship in oklahoma. named in the 156 man field also in that named in the 156 man field line up, is the defending champion phil mickelson. he became golf s oldest major champion when he won the competition last year, but he has been on a breakfrom golf and hasn t played since february after controversial comments about saudi arabia s regime. that s all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. its widely expected that finland will begin the process ofjoining nato this week. the decision would significantly redraw the security map of europe, and will be seen in moscow as a hostile act.
what do we do when we hear the air raid siren? we run, she says. we run away. young minds already used to living with the constant threat of war. caroline davies, bbc news, odesa. borisjohnson will travel to finland and sweden tomorrow for talks about the war in ukraine along with long standing concerns about the security of europe. its widely expected that finland will begin the process ofjoining the nato defence alliance this week. finland becoming a nato member would significantly redraw the security map of europe and the prospect is already viewed with undisguised hostility in moscow.