The US Senate approved Sweden and Finland’s entry into NATO in a strong statement of support for expanding the transatlantic alliance in the face of a “Russian invasion” of Ukraine.

And 95 members of the Senate voted against one, in favor of joining the two Scandinavian countries, making the United States the 23rd of 30 members of the alliance to formally approve the joining, after Italy gave its consent earlier and France on Tuesday.

Only Republican Senator Josh Hawley spoke out against the resolution, saying the US should focus on protecting its territory and solving the problem coming from China, not what is happening in Europe.

As for Republican Senator Rand Paul, he voted with the word “present”, which confirms his presence at the session, and does not support or oppose the proposal.

Senate Speaker Chuck Schumer said the passage of the resolution is a sign of Western unity in the face of the war that Moscow launched against Ukraine on February 24. “This is fundamentally important and sends a signal to Russia: they cannot intimidate either America or Europe,” he added.

“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin tried to use his war in Ukraine to divide the West. Instead, today’s vote shows that our union is stronger than ever,” he said.

All 30 NATO members must agree to accept Finland and Sweden, and according to the alliance’s list, the decision is still awaiting official approval from the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Turkey.

Turkey only challenged the decision, while Finland and Sweden demanded that it extradite dozens of opponents of its government located on the territory of two countries, which Ankara classifies as “terrorists” in exchange for providing its support.

Turkey said on July 21 that a special committee would meet with Finnish and Swedish officials in August to assess whether the two countries were complying with its terms.