However, security services would be unlikely to publicly attribute damage to Russian attacks. Earlier this month, its civil defence minister told a defence conference "there could be a war in Sweden". On 24 January Nato announced it was putting forces on standby and sending additional ships and fighter jets to Nato deployments in eastern Europe, “reinforcing Allied deterrence and defence”. A senior Western intelligence official has warned that if Russia decides to invade Ukraine, a conflict could spill over further into Europe. While Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called Russia's latest move "unacceptable...unprovoked [and] unwarranted" and confirmed that the breakaway regions of Ukraine will face sanctions. This will impact banks, transport, energy, oil, gas and telecommunications, reports say, along with eight wealthy Russian individuals.
President Putin ordering the use of nuclear weapons against the UK remains very unlikely, but is not impossible. What would happen if Russia decided to target the UK with nuclear weapons? Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has not gone to plan, with Ukraine remaining vigilant two months after the attacks began.
Was Nato to blame for the war?
The BBC reports that the UK government will utilise recent legislation to impose restrictions on the people and organisations linked to Russia - as well as measures to personally target Vladimir Putin. The UK will ban hi-tech exports to Russia and sanction people and companies in the defence and energy sectors. The UK defence ministry believes that the increase in arson attacks on Russian enlistment offices “is highly likely due to a greater sense of dissatisfaction with the war amongst the Russian population”. There have been https://euronewstop.co.uk/how-much-is-russia-spending-on-ukraine-war.html on Russian military enlistment offices since the start of the war in February 2022, with 113 in the last six months. UK foreign secretary Liz Truss tells the British parliament the government is “considering options for further deployments of our armed forces to reassure and protect allies on Nato’s eastern flank”.
- Russia denies it plans to invade, but has more than 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s border.
- Prior to the talks, Ukraine officials shared that Russia had dropped preconditions to any peace deal.
- Beyond seizing a territorial corridor to Crimea, Russia's bloody, unprovoked war has been a disaster for itself and the country it was unleashed on.
- 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.
- If Russia recognises their expanded borders, it may order its troops to begin an offensive against the Ukrainian army.
Mr Zelensky said Russia had positioned almost 200,000 troops and thousands of combat vehicles on Ukraine's borders ahead of Thursday's invasion. 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. Last November, the near 150-metre long ship sailed around the coast of Denmark with its transmitter turned off, while continuously sending radio messages to a naval base in Russia disclosing its positions. Last year, i reported that the ship conducted a six-day tour off the Scottish coast around the same time, in an area with a heavy concentration of oil and gas pipelines and data and power cables. A Conservative MP has warned that Vladimir Putin may be planning ways to attack the UK and Nato allies, following reports that a fleet of spy ships is mapping wind farms and communication cables in the North Sea. The threats facing Europe today are too pressing for our military to be reduced to this state.
Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss have been engaged in diplomatic talks on the crisis
Peskov did not specifically respond to threats against wealthy Russians close to Putin. But he did describe the threat of sanctions as illegitimate, saying that they would harm both Russian and British business interests. Truss will make a statement to parliament on the Russia sanctions regime later today, and Johnson and Truss will travel to Ukraine on Tuesday. Thomas-Greenfield says 100,000 Russian troops on Ukraine’s border is “the largest mobilisation of troops in Europe in decades”. He says the “deployment of troops in our own territory” does not mean there will be an “act of aggression”, and that there is no need for “hysterics”.
Intelligence sources claim their aim is to lay the groundwork for sabotage against rival countries, including the UK, ensuring Russia is well positioned to inflict strategic blows in future conflicts. As the war approaches its second anniversary, severe weapons shortages and worrying signs of waning Western support are undermining Ukraine’s war effort. This may lead Putin to conclude that he can still emerge victorious in his confrontation with the West, which is bound to encourage further provocations in future. Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch his “special military operation” against Ukraine was motivated by a belief that the West would not mount any meaningful opposition.
He said the UK and allies will launch a "massive package" of sanctions to "hobble" Russia's economy. The UK "cannot and will not just look away" at Russia's "hideous and barbaric" attack on Ukraine, Boris Johnson has said. They say NATO's principles of freedom and democracy are under threat and NATO has acted in non-member countries before, like Libya and Kosovo. Prime Minister Boris Johnson repeated that over the weekend, saying Ukraine is not a part of NATO and therefore not entitled to NATO's one for all, all for one protection. The danger, however, with sanctions is they push Moscow further away from the West and towards the East, meaning Mr Putin may develop yet closer relations with Beijing. Unless Putin is doing all of this only to maximise his leverage in talks with the West.
Moscow has claimed its forces have taken control of the village of Tabaivka in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region. 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. Meanwhile, Moscow has claimed its forces have taken control of the village of Tabaivka in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region. Since then more than 14,000 people have died in the east in a conflict between the rebels and Ukrainian forces. A shaky ceasefire had held but there has been a surge in violations in recent days.
- But others have responded by "prepping for war" - stocking food and fuel.
- Earlier, the prime minister said on Twitter that the invasion was a "catastrophe for our continent".
- It means that some of the population will have had some military training - and can then be assigned to reserve units should war break out.
- Over the past month, UK government ministers have repeatedly stressed that UK troops would be unlikely to take part in action within Ukraine.