Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö warned on Sunday of a dangerous moment in the war in Ukraine, in which Russian President Vladimir Putin has invested so much credibility in an invasion that has turned against him.
“He did everything he could,” Niinistö told DailyExpertNews’s Fareed Zakaria.
“He’s a fighter so it’s very hard to see him accept a defeat and this certainly makes the situation very critical.”
Niinistö’s comments come as Finnish border officials reported that more than 8,500 Russians traveled overland to Finland on Saturday.
“Saturday, 8,572 Russians came to Finland through the Finnish-Russian land border. A week ago, 5,286 came in on Saturday,” Matti Pitkäniitty, the head of the International Affairs Unit at the Finnish Border Guard, said in a social media post Sunday.
The number of Saturdays is 62% higher than last Saturday, Pitkäniitty said.
The Vaalimaa border crossing in southeastern Finland was the busiest passage for Russians entering the country, Pitkäniitty said in another post on Sunday.
“Sunday morning queue at 08.00 Finnish time [1 a.m. ET] about 500 m,” he added.
The surge in the number of Russians entering Finland comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin significantly increased the stakes of his attack on Ukraine for ordinary Russians on Wednesday, announcing an immediate “partial mobilization” in an attempt to end his faltering invasion after Ukrainian invasion. boost profits.