Earlier this week Russia's president announced he was recognising the independence of two self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine's army said Kyiv's Boryspil international airport was among a number of airfields that had been bombed, along with military headquarters and warehouses in the big cities of Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Mariupol. Labour said the threats facing Ukraine must be met with “strength and resolve” by Nato and Europe, after the shadow defence secretary, John Healey, visited the country this week. The UK does have plans to extract the Queen, other members of the Royal Family, the Prime Minister and top officials from London in the event of a nuclear attack, and into bunkers dispersed across the country.
Once Putin rolled his tanks in, pro-Russian sentiment largely vanished. The Covid lockdown, which saw fights breaking out in queues at supermarkets and garages, was a glimpse of how trouble can spark during times of nationwide panic. There would also be concerns about looting, especially if food shortages started to bite.
A pariah nation?
“The western allies must work hard to maintain their deterrent pressure on Russia and stand by Ukraine,” said Healey. Wallace met Nordic partners this week, including Finland, which shares a border with Russia. Issuing a second warning in a week to Moscow, Ben Wallace said there would be “consequences” for any Russian aggression towards Ukraine.
- First, Putin has indicated that he questions Ukraine’s right to statehood, calling modern Ukraine an artificial construct of the Soviet Union.
- Labour's Keir Starmer and many Conservative backbenchers have called for further military options to be explored.
- What would happen if Russia decided to target the UK with nuclear weapons?
- A large diversion of citizens to military duty would leave gaps in the workforce to be filled, be it guarding food warehouses or building trenches and bomb shelters.
- The nation’s four Vanguard-class nuclear submarines can each carry up to 16 missiles.
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”. The Western defence official said that if Russia chose to carry out an attack now it could do so. But he said Russian forces massed on the border were still missing some crucial elements - such as full logistical support, ammunition stocks, field hospitals and blood banks. A senior Western intelligence official has warned that if Russia decides to invade Ukraine, a conflict could spill over further into Europe. Fighting could spread into Belarus where Russian forces are already stationed. Nato powers are already promising to build up their own forces in the alliance's eastern flank.
Ukraine conflict: Russian forces attack from three sides
It killed at least 41 civilians, including a 15-year-old boy, wounded hundreds, and caused significant damage to civilian infrastructure, including a maternity hospital. Western intelligence officials concluded that the incident fitted into a pattern of Russia widening its military activities to involve attacks on infrastructure underpinning Western economic and energy security. A man was also killed in shelling outside the major north-eastern city of Kharkiv. It's promising to deploy British forces to eastern European members of the Nato military alliance if Russian troops cross Ukraine's borders. Madame Chair, as we approach the third year since Russia’s full-scale invasion, the UK’s support will not falter. During his visit to Kyiv earlier this month, my Prime Minister announced a package of support and reaffirmed the close UK-Ukraine partnership.
There is a sense in the upper echelons of the British military that many politicians and most of the public have not grasped the threat they see. It is the duty of the military to analyse that threat, and they still might be proved wrong. But European nations closer to Russian borders appear to be taking it more seriously.
Ukraine crisis: What’s at stake for the UK?
Some bars and restaurants in Kyiv were offering free drinks to anyone who had a UK passport. Russian forces attacked eight communities in the Sumy oblast overnight, causing more than 24 explosions, the Sumy regional military administration said. Further south-east in the Zaporizhzhia region, the governor, Yuri Malashko, said an infrastructure site had been hit in a drone attack.
If Russia recognises their expanded borders, it may order its troops to begin an offensive against the Ukrainian army. Russia’s military is likely to make a formal entrance into the territories soon. Its troops and military vehicles have secretly taken part in the fighting since 2014, but this deployment will probably be much larger. https://euronewstop.co.uk/what-is-a-vacuum-bomb-ukraine.html will now threaten Ukraine with a broader war if it continues to fight against the “separatists”, telling Kyiv that Russia is now obliged by treaty to defend them from attack. Even if cyberattacks didn’t wipe out Netflix, wartime Britons would still face a life without luxuries. While the Channel has long been the country’s greatest defence, it makes it hard to import in times of war.
Around 80% of the male population complete some form of military service. Refusal can mean a jail sentence, though there is the option of civilian service out of uniform too. In Sweden and Norway, conscription is partial - not everyone gets drafted.
- Many analysts fear war in Ukraine could potentially spill over into other European countries.
- 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.
- Russia's ambitions, he said, were not just about seizing territory but "about defeating our system and way of life politically, psychologically and symbolically".
- Pictures posted on social media showed emergency crews battling a blaze.
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. Russia officially claims that it is an expeditionary oceanographic ship used for marine research, however intelligence sources told DR it is actually a spy vessel. 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.