Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday announced that he had applied for his country to join the NATO military alliance under what he called “an accelerated procedure.”
Zelenskyy, his prime minister, and the speaker of parliament signed the paperwork in an online video after Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the annexation of four partially occupied Ukrainian regions as Russian land. 
In the video, Zelenskyy, who wore combat fatigues, said Ukraine was taking a “decisive step” by applying for a fast-tracked accession to shift the current alliance from being “de facto” to “de jure,” or legally recognized.
“We are de facto allies. This has already been achieved. De facto, we have already completed our path to NATO. De facto, we have already proven interoperability with the alliance’s standards,” Zelenskyy said in the video on the Telegram app….