But far-fetched as they might sound, General Sir Patrick Sanders, the head of Britain’s army, believes it is time we dwelt on them more. The Netherlands has joined the IT coalition to aid Ukraine in its war efforts, Ukraine’s defence ministry said today. A 13-year-old girl died today from injuries sustained in the Russian shelling of her village in the Kharkiv oblast earlier this month, said Oleg Synegubov, head of the Kharkiv regional state administration.
- But the alliance has also made clear that it believes that Ukraine has a right to make its own decisions as a sovereign nation, and it is not willing to give Russia a veto on Ukraine's future.
- Around 80% of the male population complete some form of military service.
- But clashes have also been taking place around Kyiv and the Black Sea port cities of Odesa and Mariupol.
- Labour has avoided making any firm spending commitments, but has criticised cuts to the size of the army and promised to launch a defence review if elected.
The latest repatriation of bodies appears unrelated to the downing of the plane, which crashed in Russia’s western Belgorod region on Wednesday. They engaged Ukrainian troops in 98 combat engagements, and carried out four air strikes and 78 shellings with reactive bullets. Russian forces struck the settlement of Maly Burluk on 17 January with an aerial bomb, Synegubov said. https://euronewstop.co.uk/where-is-croatia-in-relation-to-ukraine.html has ruled out any move towards conscription, saying the army service will remain voluntary. They said Moscow did not ask for any specific stretch of airspace to be kept safe for a certain length of time, as it has for past prisoner exchanges.
What about Putin’s international partners?
All the expeditionary wars involved victories that came, generally, in a matter of weeks, sometimes days. As a result, recent military planners assumed the amount of ammunition required and preparation needed would be limited. Russia has now dug in and consolidated in eastern Ukraine, consequently, a war of attrition is under way.
- As Gen Sir Patrick Sanders stated several times in his speech on Wednesday, "Ukraine really matters".
- Pro-war nationalists have been calling for more extreme steps to ensure Russia wins – but that’s only at one end of the spectrum.
- The dependence of many European countries on Russian gas may also contribute to upward pressure on commodity prices as they seek alternative supplies from elsewhere.
- Fighting could spread into Belarus where Russian forces are already stationed.
He said the security situation in Europe was without precedent since the fall of the Iron Curtain. "Added to that are the recent border crisis involving thousands of migrants in Belarus, as well as Russia's backing of separatists in the Caucasus and elsewhere," he said. "Has Putin decided to initiate a conflict? The jury is still out," he said. 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. The admiral described Russia's military build-up on its border with Ukraine as "deeply worrying".
Ukraine war: What Russia's escalating air attacks mean
But Air Vice Marshal Bell, who previously headed a strategic combat review for the RAF, says the reasons for this are not clear. For years, since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the belief was that Western armed forces would only ever have to take part in what was known as 'expeditionary' wars. These are conflicts involving a strong military force going into a situation in which it has superiority, so it can win easily - for example the Gulf and Iraq wars and conflicts in Sierra Leone and Kosovo.
- Air Vice Marshal Bell says the other reason the attack on the Moskva was successful was because it had been manoeuvring in a way that left it vulnerable to attack.
- Some bars and restaurants in Kyiv were offering free drinks to anyone who had a UK passport.
- If war broke out in Ukraine and Russian forces occupied large swathes of the country, many civilians might flee.
- 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 Russian Foreign Ministry said Britain should stop spreading nonsense, but the British allegations do echo similar warnings made by the American government on Thursday. In Kyiv, some Ukrainian government officials appear to be taking them seriously. The man it named as a possible pro-Russian candidate for president, former Ukrainian MP Yevhen Murayev, seems to have dismissed the allegation, but this morning said the country needed new leaders. But its method - a pair of statements aimed very much at the Sunday papers - has raised eyebrows. The Foreign Office, in a press release remarkably short on detail, said it had evidence of a Russian plot to install a puppet government in the wake of an invasion.
Opposition to Russia's demands
A Russian team shot and killed a brother and sister from the Khotin community of the Sumy oblast this morning, the regional military administration said. In its latest intelligence report, the UK Ministry of Defence said Ukrainian counter-attacks were holding Russians back from taking full control of Avdiivka. Since its illegal and unprovoked attack, over 300,000 Russian personnel have been killed or wounded. Media organisations have been shut down, and many journalists are now in Russian prisons. He was not making a case for conscription or for an imminent call up of volunteers.
The UK has been threatened with a "military response" by Russia after pledging to send long-range missiles to Ukraine. He also wants Nato to abandon military exercises and stop sending weapons to eastern Europe, seeing this as a direct threat to Russia's security. Russia has denied it is planning any attack but Mr Putin has issued demands to the West, including that Ukraine be prevented from joining the Nato military alliance.
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. The memorandum is not a treaty and lawyers dispute whether it is legally enforceable. But it is a formal, public and written commitment by the UK to support Ukraine. This was in return for Ukraine giving up its massive arsenal of nuclear weapons, a legacy of its membership of the Soviet Union.
Those remaining have again been urged to leave Ukraine immediately - if they judge it is safe to do so. "This is a grave moment for the security of Europe. Russia's unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine is putting countless lives at risk," he said. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss summoned Russia's ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, for the second time this week to ask him to explain the "illegal, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine". Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the UK should brace itself for the "economic pain" the country will experience by imposing sanctions against Russia. Ukrainian protesters gathered outside Downing Street on Thursday afternoon to call for more action from the UK and the international community. 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.
- Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the UK should brace itself for the "economic pain" the country will experience by imposing sanctions against Russia.
- Given how the Ukraine conflict is going, such an eventuality cannot be ruled out.
- "Added to that are the recent border crisis involving thousands of migrants in Belarus, as well as Russia's backing of separatists in the Caucasus and elsewhere," he said.
- "Ukraine needs new politicians whose policy will be based solely on the principles of the national interests of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people," he said.