Helsinki, Mar 26 (AP) Finland's president says his country would likely be targeted by Russian cyber warfare and could face border violations if it decides to apply for membership in NATO.

Several polls in recent weeks have shown a majority of Finns now supporting NATO membership, up from 25% at most before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. President Sauli Niinisto said in an interview Saturday with public broadcaster YLE that the biggest benefit would be “gaining a preventive effect."

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But he pointed to a risk of disruptive behavior by Russia during an accession process, which would take at least months.

He said an application would lead to tensions at Finland's 1,340-kilometer border with Russia, including the possibility of “robust” border and territorial violations — not just by Russian aircraft, as Finland has experienced in the past.

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Niinisto said: “We don't even know all the possiblities for hybid influencing that someone may invent. The entire world of information technology is vulnerable. Even some important society functions can be disrupted.”

Moscow has said it would consider European Union members Finland and neighbouring Sweden joining NATO a hostile move that would have serious military and political repercussions.

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Medyka: Refugees arriving in Poland from Ukraine are pleading for more help to end the war as US President Joe Biden wraps up his four-day visit to Europe.

The US has been sending money and supplies to aid the refugee effort. This week, Biden announced $1 billion in additional aid and said the US would accept up to 100,000 refugees.

Elena Taciy, a 50-year-old from Berdyansk, said that the US support is “right and needed.”

She said Saturday she wanted Biden “to come to Ukraine in person and see the situation with his own eyes.”

Maria Shevchenka, a 43-year-old from Mykolaiv, said that “we are waiting for them (the Americans) to help us end this crisis, so that finally we can return back to our country and our homes.”

Biden, who was in Warsaw on Saturday, dropped in on a meeting between US and Ukrainian foreign policy and defense leaders.

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Lviv: The governor of the Kyiv region says that Russian forces have entered the city of Slavutych and seized a hospital there.

Slavutych is located north of Kyiv and west of Chernihiv, outside the exclusion zone that was established around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after the 1986 disaster. It is home to workers at the Chernobyl site.

Governor Oleksandr Pavlyuk said Saturday that the Russians also kidnapped the city's mayor, but some media reported later in the day that the mayor was released swiftly.

Neither claim could be verified independently.

The governor said that residents of Slavutych took to the streets with Ukrainian flags to protest the Russian invasion.

“The Russians opened fire into the air. They threw flash-bang grenades into the crowd. But the residents did not disperse, on the contrary, more of them showed up,” Pavlyuk said. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)