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What did 27 March 2023 change for NATO?
Summary
A look back at a day when Hungary approved Finland's NATO accession and a Russian missile strike hit Sloviansk.
What did 27 March 2023 signal for Ukraine and its neighbours? Two reports from that day pointed in different directions: one on the enlargement of NATO, the other on the continuing toll of the war on civilians.
On 27 March 2023, the National Assembly of Hungary voted 182–6 to approve Finland's accession to NATO. The vote left Turkey as the last remaining NATO member yet to approve Finland's membership in the alliance.
The same day, a Russian missile strike on Sloviansk, in Donetsk Oblast, killed at least two civilians and injured 29 others.
A announcement two days earlier
The day also followed an announcement on 25 March 2023 by Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said Russia would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus by July, and that Russian forces would operate the nuclear missiles. As reported at the time, it would be the first time Russian nuclear weapons had been deployed abroad since 1996.
Taken together, the reports from those days set out the pressures in the region: a NATO accession process moving towards completion with one approval outstanding, a stated plan to deploy Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus, and civilians in Donetsk Oblast still under missile attack.
