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. But it boosts the strength of the professional armed forces, which is often relatively small.
- Russia might use the crisis to launch cyber and other hybrid attacks on Nato countries.
- "To think war could be contained to one nation would be foolish," they added.
- Mr Johnson was among leaders of the G7 group of wealthy nations who met to discuss the situation.
- The Russian president has been threatening using his nuclear weapons since early on in the invasion, in the hope of intimidating Kyiv and getting Nato to back off.
- The overall effect means Finland can muster one of Europe's largest armies.
- But the House speaker, Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said the legislation would be “dead on arrival in the House” in its current form, according to a letter to Republican lawmakers.
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. 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 is fighting back
Earlier today, a Russian official said air defences had thwarted a drone attack on the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery in the city of Yaroslavl. The UK government is providing a range of economic, humanitarian and defensive military assistance to Ukraine, and is imposing additional sanctions on Russia and Belarus. Unfortunately, the attacks on Tuesday morning were just the latest of a series of acts of wanton destruction by Russia in Ukraine since we last gathered for a Permanent Council in December. Over the Christmas period, Russia launched hundreds of missile and drone strikes across cities in Ukraine including Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Lviv. This culminated on 29 December, when Russian unleashed its largest aerial assault against Ukraine since the war began. 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.
A little earlier, we told you about a report in the Financial Times that the EU was proposing to sabotage Hungary's economy if Budapest blocks further aid for Ukraine this week. A spate of Ukraine-linked attacks on Russia's oil infrastructure have reportedly led Moscow's energy ministry to propose restricting flights over energy facilities. Meanwhile, Indian thinktank Observer Research Foundation's Russia expert, Nandan Unnikrishnan, said India was unlikely to sign "any major military deal" with Russia because it would cross a red line with the US. Unnamed Indian government sources have suggested India wants to distance itself from Russia, according to Reuters news agency. "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.
Has Russia invaded Ukraine? What can UK do? Where will this end? Your questions answered
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded with Western nations for these types of missiles for months - but the requests have been denied, especially by the US. Storm Shadow is a long-range, air-launched cruise missile developed by British Aerospace and a French company, which carries a 450kg conventional warhead to a range of up to 200 miles (300km). Ukraine has long been calling for long-range missiles, but the US and other countries have been unwilling to supply them in case strikes inside Russia lead to escalation. The others are Serhiy Arbuzov and Andriy Kluyev, who both served as deputy prime minister under Mr Yanukovych. Also named is Volodymyr Sivkovych, the former deputy head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council, who was this week made the subject of US sanctions for allegedly working with Russian intelligence.
The diminishing prospects for a deal leave congressional leaders with no clear way to approve a White House request for $110bn in emergency funding for Ukraine, Israel, immigration enforcement and national security needs. Joe Biden is pressing Congress to embrace a bipartisan Senate deal to pair border enforcement measures with aid for Ukraine. Carlos Del Toro, the US navy secretary, has urged the UK to “reassess” the size of its armed forces given “the threats that exist today”.
Russia has gradually built up a force of close to 190,000 troops around the Ukrainian border over the last few weeks but maintained that it had no intention to invade – until last night. 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. Russia’s invasion caused international stock markets to drop dramatically, with the FTSE 100 in London falling by 3.2 per cent.
- The diminishing prospects for a deal leave congressional leaders with no clear way to approve a White House request for $110bn in emergency funding for Ukraine, Israel, immigration enforcement and national security needs.
- The BBC also reported that “many Russians, especially young professionals” will be considering leaving the country as soon as possible, and there have been claims that the sale of plane tickets leaving Russia is soaring.
- Ukraine's intelligence service, the SBU, reported on Tuesday it had found and deactivated "two robotic online surveillance cameras" that it says were hacked by Russia to spy on Kyiv's defences and scout out targets.
- 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.
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. Russia wants assurances that Ukraine will never be allowed to join Nato; that Nato members will have no permanent forces or infrastructure based in Ukraine; and for a halt to military exercises near Russia's border. While the official said it was hard to say these were all strategically related, it showed that there was an issue on Eastern Europe's eastern flank. Western intelligence estimates that Russia already has up to 100,000 troops positioned near to the border with Ukraine, along with tanks and artillery. Washington has suggested that force could rise to 175,000 by the end of January.
- Ukrainian officials say Russia has provided no credible evidence to back its claims that their own forces shot down a military transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war who were to be swapped for Russian POWs.
- This included £2.5 billion in military support and a historic long-term security agreement.
- Western intelligence estimates that Russia already has up to 100,000 troops positioned near to the border with Ukraine, along with tanks and artillery.
- At least 32 people have died in Ukraine's capital in that time, 30 of them in one attack - on 29 December, when Russia launched one of the largest ever aerial attacks of this war.
- The Ukrainians have in fact got ahead of Western militaries by developing a system - with British assistance - that uses radar and computing power to work out exactly where enemy positions are firing from.
- So far, that has yet to happen, with relatively few reported cyber attacks linked to Russia in the last few months.
After 2,000 anti-tank weapons were delivered last week and 30 British troops arrived to teach Ukrainian forces how to use them, the phrase "God Save the Queen" began trending on Twitter in Ukraine. Some bars and restaurants in Kyiv were offering free drinks to anyone who had a UK passport. We will continue to work with Ukraine and our international partners for a just and sustainable peace. 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. While the president did not mention anything about Russia’s place on the international stage, the speech came just days after he visited his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Azerbaijan.
“We currently don’t have evidence that there could have been that many people onboard the aircraft,” Budanov said. The Biden administration has announced the approval of a $23bn deal to sell F-16 warplanes to Turkey, after Ankara ratified Sweden’s Nato membership, the state department said. One Whitehall source told the Times that the training of Ukrainian civilians on UK soil could act as a rehearsal for rapid Army expansion. But he was making the point that if war broke out troop numbers would be too small. https://euronewstop.co.uk/how-much-is-russia-spending-on-ukraine-war.html requires young men and women to serve for a limited time in uniform. 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.
- Pro-war nationalists have been calling for more extreme steps to ensure Russia wins – but that’s only at one end of the spectrum.
- Fighting could spread into Belarus where Russian forces are already stationed.
- Some migrants might stay in neighbouring Poland and eastern European countries, but some might head further west and eventually end up in the UK.
- 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.