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. The memorandum is not a treaty and lawyers dispute whether it is legally enforceable.
- "Such an outcome would bring a battered but triumphant Russian army right up to NATO's border from the Black Sea to the Arctic Ocean."
- Company employees were supposed to transfer the funds to a business registered abroad, which would then deliver the ammunition to Ukraine.
- It is a similar picture in Gaza where, despite the ferocity of Israel’s military assault, the Israel Defence Forces are still encountering stiff resistance from Hamas.
- The intelligence official described the build-up as a "slow drip" and a "slow ratcheting up of pressure".
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. The threats facing Europe today are too pressing for our military to be reduced to this state. The priority must be for ministers to end the wokery and get back to the infinitely more serious business of preparing for war. Europe’s most divisive energy project, Nord Stream 2 bypasses the traditional gas transit nation of Ukraine by running along the bed of the Baltic Sea. Putin has also sent his military on a “peacekeeping mission” to Ukraine, meaning that Russia will formally occupy sovereign Ukrainian territory for a second time following the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Putin orders attack
As cars queued on Ukraine's border with Moldova, the country's pro-EU president, Maia Sandu said she was declaring a state of emergency and was prepared to give help to tens of thousands of Ukrainians. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda also said he was signing a state of emergency to be approved by parliament. He said the goal was demilitarisation and "denazification" of Ukraine.
- Russia and Ukraine have increased their air attacks on each other’s territory in recent months, targeting critical military, energy and transport infrastructure.
- But without political support, the mindset of a country that does not feel like it is about to go to war is unlikely to change.
- Britain has also allowed ammunition supplies to dwindle to “dangerously low levels,” according to a Parliamentary Defence Committee report.
- 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.
- The priority must be for ministers to end the wokery and get back to the infinitely more serious business of preparing for war.
Talk of wider war in Europe and the potential need for mass mobilisation or a "citizen army" may sound alarming. But the head of the British Army Gen Sir Patrick Sanders is not alone in issuing a national call to prepare for a major conflict on European soil. The Prime Minister also suggested Britain could provide more military support to Ukraine as legislation to allow for tougher UK sanctions against Russia were expected to come into force today. 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. Western intelligence estimates that Russia already has up to 100,000 troops positioned near to the border with Ukraine, along with tanks and artillery.
Is UK conscription for a citizen army a realistic plan?
This could see states like Poland and the Baltics decide to aid Ukraine on their own, which "might leave NATO's eastern front vulnerable and cause a crisis within the EU and European NATO". A senior European Union official has denied member states are discussing financial coercion to force Hungary to agree on financing for Ukraine. 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.
At the outset of the conflict, the company said it was stopping investment in Russia, where it has a large worker base, and was ending exports from its Russian factory to other parts of the world. However, research by the BBC has discovered the company is still recruiting new sales agents in Russia, with recruits offered prizes, cash bonuses and even holidays for hitting targets, the broadcaster reports. 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. If the US abandons the military alliance, it will fall to European countries to ensure a Ukrainian victory, Mr OBrien says. European countries have largely outsourced much of their military capacity and thinking on strategy and security to the States through NATO.
Will Russia attack the UK? What Putin has said and why there are fears that he will expand the Ukraine war
He was not making a case for conscription or for an imminent call up of volunteers. Instead, he was urging Britain to prepare for a mass mobilisation of tens of thousands of people, should war break out. The overall effect means Finland can muster one of Europe's largest armies. The size of its active armed forces is only 19,000 personnel, but it can call on another 238,000 reserves. Finland, Nato's newest member and a country which has an 800-mile border with Russia, has wider conscription.
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. https://euronewstop.co.uk/how-long-will-ukraine-last.html have crossed from Belarus into Ukraine's northern Chernihiv region, and from Russia into the Sumy region, which is also in the north, Ukraine's border guard service (DPSU) said. BBC correspondents heard loud bangs in the capital Kyiv, as well as Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. 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. Boris Johnson has made clear the UK will not send troops to Ukraine if Russia launches a full-scale invasion, but there are other ways of aiding the European ally. But without political support, the mindset of a country that does not feel like it is about to go to war is unlikely to change.
Western countries have condemned the threat and are likely to impose sanctions on Moscow this week. And they have made clear that they will not send combat troops to Ukraine. True Russian cyberwarfare capabilities have proved something of a damp squib in Ukraine.