Sauli Niinisto

Day 719 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at Amsterdam's airport late Wednesday for an unannounced visit to the Netherlands, with a trip to the International Criminal Court on his agenda, local media reported.

Dutch news agency ANP said Zelensky, making his first visit to the Netherlands, landed at Schiphol airport after attending a Nordic summit in Helsinki.

Day 434 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias was in Brussels on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission (NUC), which will be preceded by a ceremony welcoming Finland into the alliance. 

The flag-raising ceremony at NATO headquarters for the alliance's 31st member is being attended by Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and government ministers.

Finland's main conservative party claimed victory in parliamentary elections Sunday in a tight three-way race that saw right-wing populists take second place, leaving Prime Minister Sanna Marin's Social Democratic Party in third, dashing her hopes for reelection.

The Turkish parliament's foreign affairs commission approved a bill ratifying Finland's bid to join NATO, state broadcaster TRT Haber reported on Thursday, effectively taking Helsinki another step toward membership of the trans-Atlantic pact.

The Finnish president on March 23 formally sealed the Nordic country's historic bid to join NATO by signing into law the required national legal amendments needed for membership in the Western military alliance.

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey's parliament will begin ratifying Finland's NATO bid, but not that of Sweden, removing the biggest remaining hurdle to enlarging the Western defense alliance as war continues to rage in Ukraine.

Türkiye has announced its decision to ratify Finland's bid to join NATO as a result of the latter's concrete and sincere measures against terror organizations while delaying the bid of Sweden.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is meeting his Finnish counterpart in Ankara on Friday, raising hopes that the talks will lead to Turkey's approval of Finland's NATO membership bid.

Despite the rain, Finland's President Sauli Niinisto and Erdogan reviewed military honor guard at the presidential palace in the Turkish capital's Bestepe district.