Moscow had aimed to seize control of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, soon after launching its invasion. But Ukrainian forces pushed back advancing Russian troops, who have routinely shelled the city since. https://euronewstop.co.uk/what-is-ukraines-neutral-status.html means using different kinds of missiles - hypersonic, cruise, and ballistic - but also firing these missiles along different routes. These weapons can change direction in the air over Ukraine, causing further headaches for air defence.
- Convoys have also entered the eastern Luhansk and Kharkiv regions, and moved into the Kherson region from Crimea - a territory that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
- Ukrainian counter-attacks were holding Russians back from taking full control of Avdiivka, the UK Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence report.
- Moscow has claimed its forces have taken control of the village of Tabaivka in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region.
- While the Channel has long been the country’s greatest defence, it makes it hard to import in times of war.
“The two leaders will reaffirm their resolute support for Ukraine’s defence of its land and its people against Russia’s war of aggression,” the White House said in a statement Saturday. Local authorities in Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, said the crash killed all 74 people on board, including six crew members and three Russian servicemen. Social media users in the Belgorod region posted videos that showed a plane falling from the sky in a snowy, rural area and a huge ball of fire erupting where it allegedly hit the ground. Ukrainian counter-attacks were holding Russians back from taking full control of Avdiivka, the UK Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence report. Russian forces have suffered heavy personnel and armoured vehicle losses, frequently caused by Ukrainian uncrewed aerial vehicle munitions. Hungary has signalled it is ready to compromise on EU funding for Ukraine - after Brussels reportedly prepared to sabotage its economy if it did not comply.
Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine repelling three-pronged attack on Avdiivka, says UK – as it happened
The decline in manufacturing means there are far fewer factories that can be converted to make arms, as happened in the Second World War, when car makers churned out Spitfire parts. And in a globalised world, many industries that are key in wartime rely on imports. Key bridges could be dynamited, airport runways blocked, and beaches sown with landmines.
- Russian forces launched eight rocket strikes on civilian infrastructure in the Donetsk and the Kherson oblasts, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said in its morning briefing.
- Washington has suggested that force could rise to 175,000 by the end of January.
- Up to 5,000 British citizens were estimated to be living in Ukraine before the crisis.
- Officials said there had been no specific threats to British diplomats but about half of the staff working in Kyiv will return to the UK.
- Only aircraft deployed to protect energy facilities, or those carrying top Russian or foreign officials, will be allowed to fly with special permission in the designated zones, according to the Vedomosti daily newspaper.
- The rest is made up of imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) transported to the UK by sea from countries such as Qatar and the US.
"A frank and constructive dialogue is expected to improve relations between states," the Ukrainian president's office said on its official channel on the Telegram messaging app alongside a photo of Mr Szijjarto, Mr Kuleba and Mr Yermak. Peter Szijjarto has arrived in Ukraine for talks with senior officials today. This could see states like Poland and the Baltics decide to aid Ukraine on their own, which "might leave NATO's eastern front vulnerable and cause a crisis within the EU and European NATO". "The nightmare scenario would be that the states close to Russia double down on aid to Ukraine while those farther west decide to force a deal on Putin's terms. Then Europe itself could fracture," he says. A senior European Union official has denied member states are discussing financial coercion to force Hungary to agree on financing for Ukraine. Considering they have been accused of using nuclear and chemical agents in the UK, it might have been assumed the Russians wouldn't follow international rules on the battlefield, but the Ukraine conflict appears to have confirmed it.
The lessons military planners are learning from the Ukraine invasion and what it means if the UK went to war with Russia
The fear is that if Russia is allowed to invade Ukraine unresisted, that might act as a signal to other leaders that the days of Western powers intervening in other conflicts are over. Some migrants might stay in neighbouring Poland and eastern European countries, but some might head further west and eventually end up in the UK. Russia wants Nato to make a legally binding promise that Ukraine will never become a member. It also wants Nato to withdraw its forces from most Eastern European countries. It is called self-determination, and perhaps the most important aspect of this principle is that borders cannot be changed by invading armies.
I welcome the clear support of the Prime Minister and his government for #Sweden’s #NATO membership. Ukraine’s headquarters for prisoners swaps was gathering information, he added. In a statement it said the “enemy” carried out “special informational operations” to try and destabilise Ukrainian society. Hungary has signalled that it may lift its veto at a summit of EU leaders on Ukraine scheduled for Feb 1, having opposed the aid package at a December meeting. Laszlo Toroczkai, leader of the Our Homeland party, also claimed the Zakarpattia region, where 150,000 ethnic Hungarians live, and said it should become part of Hungary if Russia annexes Ukraine after the war. “If this war ends up with Ukraine losing its statehood, because this is also on the cards, then as the only Hungarian party taking this position, let me signal that we lay claim to Transcarpathia,” he said.
The Guardian view on a UK citizen army: unpopular and unaffordable
This is because Nato uses a system of collective security, whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. If Ukraine was part of Nato, the military alliance which is made up of 30 member states, including the US and UK, every Nato nation would have to launch an armed attack against Russia. A Russian MP, Andrei Kartapolov, began expanding on the statement almost immediately, even suggesting Ukraine might have used a Patriot missile to hit the Ilyushin plane.
- Last month, the European Union paid the final instalment of a multibillion-euro support package to Ukraine to help keep its economy afloat.
- Ukraine has changed its strategy towards “active defence” in recent weeks after its much-vaunted summer counter-offensive failed to achieve major gains.
- A number of European countries also rehearse for civil emergencies - with exercises that involve ordinary citizens as well as the military.
- Russia’s invasion caused international stock markets to drop dramatically, with the FTSE 100 in London falling by 3.2 per cent.
- In a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky early on Thursday morning, Mr Johnson vowed the West "would not stand by as President Putin waged his campaign against the Ukrainian people".