Earlier, the prime minister said on Twitter that the invasion was a "catastrophe for our continent". The prime minister also sought to reassure the British public, pledging to do "everything to keep our country safe" and work with allies "for however long it takes" to restore Ukraine's sovereignty and independence. Ukraine has imposed martial law across the country, meaning the military has taken control temporarily, and traffic jams have built up as people attempt to flee Kyiv. Mr Putin announces a “special military operation" by Russian troops is underway in Ukraine. Ukraine says it is a "full-scale invasion”.
- 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.
- The only airlines still flying from the UK, Wizz Air and Ryanair, have suspended all flights to the country.
- At least seven people are known to have been killed by Russian shelling, including civilians.
- The impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on our forecast for the UK economy comes primarily via the impact of higher energy prices on inflation, real incomes, consumption and imports.
Leaders including Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen have both called for an accelerated roll-out of clean energy. The German government has brought forward its target for 100% renewable electricity by five years to 2035. In response to the current crisis, the EU is proposing expedite plans to link Ukrainian's electricity system to the EU's, which would boost Ukraine's independence from Russia's grid, with which it is currently tied.
How a Russian invasion of Ukraine could spill over into Europe
Ukraine's government is encouraging people to take part in free training, as well as to manufacture drones at home to send to the front. Under constant drone surveillance and enemy bombardment, life has gradually drained from Kherson's streets. Aside from a limited crossing further up the Dnipro near the town of Krynky, Ukrainian attacks here are only probing, and require patience.
US President Joe Biden held a video conference with EU leaders, the Nato secretary general and Mr Johnson on Monday evening. https://euronewstop.co.uk/why-dont-ukraine-bomb-the-convoy.html said the security situation in Europe was without precedent since the fall of the Iron Curtain. The war that erupted in eastern Ukraine in 2014 has already left 14,000 dead and an estimated 1.4 million displaced. Meanwhile, other Western defence sources have expressed concern about an increase in signals intelligence and "chatter" being monitored which could signal Russia's preparedness to invade. US officials have also pointed to an increase in Russia's social media "disinformation".
The PM said President Vladimir Putin had launched a "vast invasion by land, by sea and by air" without provocation. Air strikes continued overnight and into the early hours of Friday, with attacks being reported across the country - including on the capital Kyiv. Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg criticised Russia's "reckless" attack on Ukraine and said despite weeks of tireless international diplomacy, Russia had chosen "the path of aggression". Writing on Twitter, he added the US and its allies and partners would impose "severe sanctions on Russia" and continue to provide support to Ukraine and its people.
What's on TV tonight: Putin vs the West
Russia's ally Belarus will face similar sanctions because of its role in the attack on Ukraine. Russian airline Aeroflot will be banned from landing in the UK and within days all high tech and oil refinery equipment exports to Russia will not be allowed. He said all major Russian banks will face a full UK asset freeze, which means they will not be able to access accounts, money or property in the UK. Prime Minster Boris Johnson says that after 4am UK time he spoke to President Zelensky of Ukraine to offer the support of the UK.
- Mr Johnson was among leaders of the G7 group of wealthy nations who met to discuss the situation.
- The Russian president said his goal was the “demilitarisation” of Ukraine, warning that if the West were to interfere they would endure “consequences they had never seen”.
- Whether people would be flocking into recruitment offices is open to question.
- If law and order really began to break down, security forces could be authorised to use lethal force against looters; neighbourhood vigilante groups might spring up.
- The UK is not protected from rising prices purely because it relies less on Russian gas.
The UK does not have significant direct trade links with either Russia or Ukraine, so our economy’s most direct exposure to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is via its impact on the global price of energy. The UK’s total energy demand fell by 22 per cent between 2000 and 2019, reflecting both a shift away from more energy-intensive industries and improvements in economy-wide energy efficiency. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the run-up to our March 2022 Economic and fiscal outlook represented a significant adverse shock, primarily via a sharp rise in gas and oil prices. In this box, we considered where the UK gets its energy from and the channels through which higher energy prices raise inflation. We then set out how the economic shock from the invasion had been reflected in our forecast as well as several potential channels through which the invasion could affect the UK economy that our forecast did not explicitly capture.
A small group of around 18 Conservative MPs want the UK to increase its own fossil fuel supply by boosting North Sea fossil fuel production and lift the fracking moratorium. The UK gets just 5-6% of its gas imports from Russia, according to analysis of government data by think tank ECIU, so supplies are not likely to be so directly affected. All of this disruption could massively increase the price of gas in Europe and, consequently, the UK.
- On Wednesday, 12 people were killed when a UN shelter was struck in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
- While climate change is often deemed a "threat multiplier", it is clear from the last week "that fossil fuels are a threat multiplier too", she said.
- The smell of a strawberry vape hangs above these Ukrainian soldiers, sitting on armchairs with looks of quiet focus and cans of Monster energy drink.
- The agency says it is struggling to get humanitarian aid to many of the estimated 1.7 million people - nearly three-quarters of the population - displaced by 12 weeks of fighting.
The PM told the House of Commons the UK would introduce "the largest and most severe package of economic sanctions that Russia has ever seen". Here’s how the war will affect the UK, from potential military action to sanctions and gas prices. The government's independent advisory Climate Change Committee recently warned that any new North Sea projects will take an average of 28 years to start producing oil and gas. But the senior Western intelligence official warned that "military options are highly likely on the table in the Kremlin" if Russia's demands are not satisfied.
Russian-backed rebels control areas of eastern Ukraine near Russia's borders in a conflict which has cost an estimated 14,000 lives. Russia considers the alliance as a threat, and is demanding legal guarantees that it will not expand further east, including into Ukraine. But the US has said the issue at stake is Russian aggression, not Nato expansion. If Russia did decide to invade Ukraine, the senior Western intelligence official said large numbers of people would be displaced. It came as Ukraine was hit by a wave of Russian missiles on Tuesday, in attacks that killed eight people and wounded dozens in Kyiv and Kharkiv. The UK aspires to spend 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence, and Mr Shapps has said he would like to increase this to 3 per cent, though he failed to set a date last week for the target.
- But that troops being sent to Europe "would defend Nato allies" - which includes countries like Poland who share a border with Ukraine.
- If President Putin decides to extend his attacks beyond Russia and into a neighbouring Nato state, such as Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia, then the UK would be bound to go to war with Russia.
- As fighting intensifies, cross-Channel shipping is attacked by Russian submarines, and long-range conventional missiles strike Dover and Southampton.
- Several other fossil fuel companies including TotalEnergies, Shell, Equinor, ExxonMobil are also ceasing ventures with Russian majors.
- With major military packages trapped under political disagreements in the US and European Union, Ukraine is having to adapt, and look inwards.
- Another potential threat could come from anti-war politicians, whom Kremlin propagandists might seek to incite.
Military kit also needs boots on the ground to operate it – hence Sir Patrick’s call for a “Citizen Army” to boost the regular Armed Forces. Whether people would be flocking into recruitment offices is open to question. According to a 2022 YouGov poll, only one in five Britons would volunteer for service in the event of an invasion. 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.
Mr Johnson said Russian President Vladimir Putin has unleashed a "tidal wave of violence" against Ukraine. Russian forces launched a major military assault on Ukraine on Thursday morning, with reports of missile strikes and explosions near major cities. 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.
It comes after a senior Nato military official warned that private citizens should prepare for an all-out war with Russia in the next 20 years, which would require wholesale change in their lives. It is regrettable - and sadly predictable - that we must gather today to condemn Russia’s latest wave of aerial attacks against the Ukrainian people. Ambassador Neil Holland condemns Russia's air attacks this week on Kyiv and Kharkiv, as well as the spate of attacks on Ukraine over the past month. Mr Zelenskyy has called for public officials to disclose their incomes to increase transparency and eliminate corruption as Ukraine tries to meet the stringent requirements for its bid to join the European Union.