The US government announced on Thursday that Sweden has become the 32nd member of the NATO military alliance.

The US State Department officially announced that the “Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty on the Accession of the Kingdom of Sweden” had come into effect on Thursday.

With Sweden’s membership in NATO, all of its allies, including the US, have pledged to defend the nation in the event of an attack, and vice versa. Additionally, Sweden brings with it a sizable defense industry that currently supplies many NATO nations.

In response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, both Sweden and Finland requested to join NATO in May of that same year. In April 2023, Finland joined the alliance.