Sweden's governing party drops its long opposition to the country joining the Nato alliance in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine
The news came hours after Finland formally announced it was seeking to be part of the alliance
Russia - whose war in Ukraine has sparked the moves - has warned the expansion of Nato would be a mistake
Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg says the doors are open for both countries to join, describing the potential change as "historic"
On the ground, Russia's offensive in the eastern Donbas region has lost momentum, according to UK military assessment
Meanwhile, Ukraine has won the 66th Eurovision song contest - in a symbolic show of public support following the country's invasion
Sweden's ruling party, the Social Democrats, say they back the country joining Nato – this comes a few hours after its neighbour Finland said it planned to apply to join.
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has confirmed Finland and Sweden have updated Nato members on their stance on joining.
If the two countries join the alliance, it would be "historic", Stoltenberg added.
He said it would show that aggression doesn't pay and that Nato's door is open.
Image source, ReutersFinnish President Sauli Niinisto says his latest talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about Finland's bid to join Nato did not contain any threats.
"He confirmed that he thinks it's a mistake. We are not threatening you. Altogether, the discussion was very, could I say, calm and cool," Niinisto tells CNN.
Finland has today confirmed it will formally apply for Nato membership.
Putin has previously said the move is a mistake.
Image source, Getty ImagesAs we wait to hear if Sweden will follow Finland in a bid for Nato membership, it's worth looking at what this would mean for the country.
Joining Nato would mean a monumental shift in stance for Sweden, as the country has been militarily neutral for 200 years.
In some ways, not much would change. Sweden and Finland became official partners of Nato in 1994 and have since become major contributors to the alliance.
They have taken part in several Nato missions since the end of the Cold War.
But a major change would be the application of Nato's "Article 5", which views an attack on one member state as an attack on all. For the first time Sweden, and Finland - which has now said it will formally apply for membership - would have security guarantees from nuclear states.
Maddy Savage
Reporting from Stockholm
Image source, EPAThere have been some protests against the idea of Sweden joining Nato - but not everybody feels that way
There have been talks going on throughout the weekend.
The executive board of the ruling Social Democrat party are the ones who will make a final decision on whether the party will support a policy shift in favour of joining Nato.
All sides suggest that is likely to be what is going to happen but we're not going to know until another couple of hours from now - the party is expected to make an announcement at 18:00 local time (17:00 BST).
If the party formally says that it's happy with joining Nato then I think we could be on quite a rapid process towards that application beginning.
There's already a debate scheduled in parliament for Monday.
Most of the opposition parties are strongly in favour of joining Nato and according to Swedish media that could mean that Sweden puts its bid in formally in just the next couple of days.
This would have been unthinkable just six months ago but following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, opinion polls have really indicated a rise in support for joining Nato.
Not so much here in Sweden as in Finland - just under 50% of people asked in recent opinion polls suggesting that they would like to join Nato but that's compared to about 30% at the end of last year.
There really is a feeling among supporters of joining Nato that this would enable Sweden to feel more secure and that it would enhance the security situation across northern Europe.
Image source, EPAUS Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he heard "almost across-the-board very strong support" for Finland and Sweden joining Nato, during the meeting of members countries' foreign ministers in Berlin.
"The United States would strongly support the Nato application by either Sweden or Finland should they choose to formally apply to the alliance," Blinken says.
"I'm very confident that we will reach consensus," he says.
Reuters reports Blinken also says the US will reopen its embassy in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
The joint press conference of German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has concluded.
Let's look at the main takeaway points:
Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg says Nato is monitoring Russia "closely".
His comments come after Finland officially confirmed it would apply to join the military alliance.
Russian President Vladimir Putin previously described the move as a mistake.
We're also expecting to hear from Sweden today about a decision on joining Nato.
Stoltenberg says Nato is following "very closely what Russia is doing" and is ready to act if Russia launches any attack on Nato members.
He says Finland and Sweden's potential memberships "matter for Nato" and the alliance will look into ways to provide security assurance in the Baltic region.
The first question to Jens Stoltenberg and Annalena Baerbock comes from German broadcaster ZDF, which asks about Turkey's reported doubts about Finland and Sweden joining.
Stoltenberg says it's important to note that Nato will respect the decisions of Finland and Sweden but that Turkey is also an important ally.
"I am confident we will be able to find a common ground," he says.
Nato's enlargement process has been a great success over the years and Sweden and Finland are Nato's closest allies who are not yet members, he adds.
He says Nato should be able to move quickly if the two nations choose they want to join.
German Foreign Minister Baerbock says Nato's doors are wide open for Finland and Sweden.
She says their addition to the alliance would strengthen Nato and bring northern European states together.
"Sweden, Finland: if you are ready we are ready", she says.
Image source, ReutersGerman Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says right now Nato is more "important" and "relevant" than ever.
She tells reporters Nato is important for everyone's freedom and security.
Speaking at joint press conference in Berlin she also stresses that countries must continue to support Ukraine.
Important decisions will be taken at the upcoming Nato summit in Madrid to react to the new situation in Europe, Jens Stoltenberg says.
Allies have committed to billions of dollars worth of assistance for Ukraine and have provided training that is making a difference on the battlefield every day, he says.
Finland and Sweden have updated Nato members on their stance on joining, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg, who had to join remotely because of Covid, says.
If they decided to join it would be historic and would show Nato's door was open and that aggression doesn't pay, he says.
He says Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine defeated and Europe and North America divided - but they are united and Ukraine can win the war.
A joint press conference of Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has just started.
We'll bring you the latest.
The event comes after Finland confirmed it will make a bid for membership of the military alliance, and as the foreign ministers from the 30 Nato countries are locked in conversations in Berlin.
Nick Beake
Europe correspondent, reporting from Berlin
Image source, EPAThe foreign ministers from the 30 Nato countries are now locked in conversations.
Last night they were joined by the Swedish and Finnish foreign ministers. That was a symbolic moment - two extra seats around the dinner table.
It's the sort of image Vladimir Putin did not want to see but in his invasion of Ukraine, in many ways, people are saying, he's got the opposite of what he desired.
But it's not a completely straightforward process this, the enlargement of Nato with these two extra members.
It needs the agreement of all the existing 30 countries and so far Turkey has indicated that it could present a stumbling block.
We don't know at the moment whether this is temporary opposition or whether it represents something more fundamental.
But certainly the Turkish foreign minister arriving here was pretty jovial today, in good spirits, which I think raises hopes among the allies here, of this Western military partnership, that they can overcome this and ratification can go through.
Hugo Bachega
Reporting from Dnipro
For weeks, residents of Mariupol were subjected to a siege imposed by Russian forces as their city came under unrelenting bombardment.
Most of their time was spent in underground shelters, with no electricity or gas, and very little food and water.
Tens of thousands have now fled and, from cities across Ukraine where they found safety, they are sharing stories of surviving the war and their dramatic escapes. But how are their children coping?
Hanna Chasovnykova, a psychologist, is helping families who have fled Mariupol here in Dnipro. In art therapy sessions, children are told to draw things they had seen in their city.
"When children go through painful experiences, they usually paint things in dark colours. Most of their drawings are only in black," she says.
"This eight-year-old girl saw how the tank shot and destroyed her grandmother’s house. Part of the exercise is to make the drawings more colourful and think about making it better. So she added grass and the sun. And to make the tank look good, she painted the flag of Ukraine," Chasovnykova says.
"In this case of a nine-year-old boy, the family spent a lot of time in a basement. He was afraid of bombs and rockets. They didn’t have a lot to eat, so his main concern was about food. At the beginning, the basket was empty. He then added the sun, grass and flowers, and turned the planes into birds, which were throwing eggs from the sky.
"He also added pyrizhky [a Ukrainian bun] to the basket. He was taking them to his grandmother, who could not leave Mariupol. If you look the way he drew the eyes you see they’re big, which is a sign of fear."
"This 11-year-old girl was wounded in the head and hand by shrapnel after a bomb attack. She’s now afraid of going outdoors because she thinks bombs are going to fall from the sky. She's also afraid of loud noises. Two of her friends have died in Mariupol."
"The family of this seven-year-old boy couldn’t escape Mariupol for a long time. When they finally left he saw a lot of burned down houses. He then drew an X over a rocket, and water falling from the sky."
Hugo Bachega
Reporting from Dnipro
And now we turn to Ukraine's devastated southern city of Mariupol.
A large convoy of cars and vans with residents escaping the city finally reached safety in the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia, in what is believed to have been the largest single evacuation from Mariupol since the start of the war.
Petro Andriuschenko, an aide to the Mariupol mayor, said the convoy numbered between 500 and 1,000 cars, who had to wait three days for Russian troops to allow them to pass.
Officials estimate about 150,000 people remain in Mariupol, many of them unable to leave.
Olga, a 41-year-old teacher who left the city last Sunday, said the sanitary conditions were worsening as most neighbourhoods remained without water.
"There’s a strong smell of decomposing bodies as many of them remain in the streets," she said.
"Everything was destroyed, everything was burned down."
Mariupol has been devastated by weeks of relentless bombardment, and is now almost completely under Russian control.
The Azovstal steelworks is the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the city.
For weeks, hundreds of fighters have been holed up in underground shelters amid intense Russian attacks.
Relatives of the fighters have made desperate calls for international help to save them, while authorities say efforts are under way to evacuate dozens of seriously wounded troops. But even them acknowledge that this will be extremely difficult.
Image source, .Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby has said it is not up to Russia to decide whether Sweden and Finland join Nato.
Kirby made the comments after Russian leader Vladimir Putin warned Finland joining the Western alliance would be a "mistake".
Finland's president has now confirmed his country will formally apply for Nato membership.
Sweden is also moving closer to joining the military alliance, as foreign ministers from the bloc continue talks in Berlin.
Nato is confident that it can overcome objections and quickly admit Finland and Sweden, its deputy chief said.
As we've been reporting, Finland has confirmed it will apply for membership of the alliance and Sweden is expected to follow suit.
The moves have been prompted by Russia's war on Ukraine.
On Saturday, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu raised objections, saying it was "unacceptable and outrageous" that the prospective new members supported the outlawed Kurdish militant group PKK.
But on Sunday, Nato's Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana said he was confident the concerns could be addressed.
"Turkey is an important ally and expressed concerns that are addressed between friends and allies," Geoana said.
"I am confident if these countries decide to seek membership in Nato we will be able to welcome them, to find all conditions for consensus to be met," he added.
The Nato security alliance was founded in 1949, when a world war had given way to the Cold War.
The bloc aimed to counter Soviet expansion in Europe, and crucially, its founder members - the UK and US among them - agreed to come to each other's aid should one of them come under attack.
Nato expanded following the collapse of the Soviet Union, when Eastern European countries who were once members of the rival Warsaw Pact decided to join.
In recent years, there were questions over Nato's future. Former US President Donald Trump was a critic while French President Emmanuel Macron called the alliance "brain dead".
But with Russia's invasion of Ukraine Nato has been given a new importance.
Image source, .