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. Britain has also allowed ammunition supplies to dwindle to “dangerously low levels,” according to a Parliamentary Defence Committee report. Gen Sir Richard Barrons, the former head of the British Joint Forces Command, told the committee that he doubted there were “sufficient munitions to sustain a high-intensity conflict for more than about a week”. One person was killed and another injured in Russian drone strikes in Beryslav, said Oleksandr Prokudin, regional governor of Kherson oblast.
The Russian defence ministry said that missiles fired from across the border brought down the transport plane, but Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said that Kyiv had no verifiable information about who was on the plane. Given how the Ukraine conflict is going, such an eventuality cannot be ruled out. Last month, the European Union paid the final instalment of a multibillion-euro support package to Ukraine to help keep its economy afloat.
What war could mean for life in modern Britain
Moscow has claimed its forces have taken control of the village of Tabaivka in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region. 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. 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. A lot of the stark warnings we are hearing from our own government should be seen in that light.
- Refusal can mean a jail sentence, though there is the option of civilian service out of uniform too.
- Military kit also needs boots on the ground to operate it – hence Sir Patrick’s call for a “Citizen Army” to boost the regular Armed Forces.
- Checkpoints and pillboxes would be built at motorway junctions and city entrances.
- The size of its active armed forces is only 19,000 personnel, but it can call on another 238,000 reserves.
- The memorandum is not a treaty and lawyers dispute whether it is legally enforceable.
- Mr Johnson promised to hit Russia with a “massive” package of sanctions designed to “hobble” the economy in Moscow.
Earlier this month, its civil defence minister told a defence conference "there could be a war in Sweden". Russia's defence ministry has denied attacking Ukrainian cities - saying it was targeting military infrastructure, air defence and air forces with "high-precision weapons". Madame Chair, as we approach the third year since Russia’s full-scale invasion, the UK’s support will not falter.
Inside the British Army drill for war with Russia - on the streets of Rutland
The Foreign Office also named four other Ukrainian politicians who it said maintained links with the Russian intelligence services. Stung, perhaps, by suggestions that while a crisis was boiling in Europe, the foreign and defence secretaries were both in Australia, the UK government does seem to be trying to show that it's getting a grip. However, he told the BBC's Sunday Morning programme it was "extremely unlikely" British troops would be sent to defend Ukraine, adding that the country was not a Nato ally.
- The government says it wants to spend 2.5% of national income on defence - but has still not said when.
- As fighting intensifies, cross-Channel shipping is attacked by Russian submarines, and long-range conventional missiles strike Dover and Southampton.
- But the official noted there had been a combination of sharp bellicose rhetoric from Moscow, accusations of being provoked by Ukraine and Nato, a lack of transparency, and a worrying track record, including the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
- The UK's defence secretary Ben Wallace said Storm Shadow missiles will be provided to Ukraine's military - and Sky News understands that some of the missiles are already with Ukrainian troops.
- Hungary previously said it would block further financial aid to Ukraine, but this morning suggested it was ready to compromise after the EU reportedly drew up plans to hit Budapest's economy.
Whether people would be flocking into recruitment offices is open to question. According to a 2022 YouGov poll, only one in five Britons would volunteer for service in the event of an invasion. While Covid was a useful exercise in Armageddon planning, 21st-century Britain is arguably less ready for actual warfare than it was even 30 years ago. At the end of the Cold War, most of the 100-strong network of nuclear bunkers were closed, along with around 1,500 underground posts for the Royal Observer Corps, a 10,000-strong volunteer force. Hundreds of captured prisoners have been freed in dozens of exchanges throughout the war, but Russia’s claims that Ukraine shot down a plane ferrying Ukrainian detainees has thrown the future of such exchanges into doubt.
Indeed, for all the foreboding about societal collapse, facing a common threat could give Britain a new-found sense of unity – something many Ukrainians speak of. Just as there was the “Clap for Carers” during the pandemic, similar rituals might take place for those serving at the front. And for every shirker or draft-dodger, others might take pride in national duty, be it manning a machine gun post or cleaning the streets. But if Ukraine’s experience is anything to go by, the threat posed by a common enemy could have a unifying effect. Kyiv’s politicians used to be notoriously fractious – not least because of divisions between the pro and anti-Russian camps. Even during the London Blitz in 1941, nearly 5,000 looting cases came before the Old Bailey.
