Notes

What Does War In Ukraine Actually Mean For The UK? HuffPost UK Politics
Russia has denied plans for military action, but an estimated 100,000 troops have amassed on the border. Earlier today, a Russian official said air defences had thwarted a drone attack on the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery in the city of Yaroslavl. Another potential threat could come from anti-war politicians, whom Kremlin propagandists might seek to incite. In extremis, a wartime government could inter anyone deemed a threat to public order or the war effort. The UK's defence secretary has also warned that we need to be prepared for a war. In his first major speech on defence, Grant Shapps said the country was moving from a "post war to a pre-war world".


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. He points out that our digital networks are mainly cellular in structure, making it almost impossible to wipe them all at once. 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 lessons military planners are learning from the Ukraine invasion and what it means if the UK went to war with Russia
US President Joe Biden said Mr Putin had "chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering". Meanwhile Russia's currency, the rouble, fell to an all-time low against the dollar and the euro. "People were out on the streets last night in this city - they were waving the Ukrainian flag. They said this was their land. They were going nowhere," she reported. Ukraine has declared martial law - which means the military takes control temporarily.

Another potential threat could come from anti-war politicians, whom Kremlin propagandists might seek to incite. After the invasion international oil prices surged by nearly $6 per barrel to more than $100, levels not seen since 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea, and have since passed $120. With war raging in Ukraine, many fear ministers will be distracted from climate action. 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.
This included £2.5 billion in military support and a historic long-term security agreement. This brings the United Kingdom’s total package of support to Ukraine to approximately £12 billion. We remain deeply humbled by the bravery and the resilience of the Ukrainian people and their determination to win.

Russia's wanton destruction against Ukraine must be stopped: UK statement to the OSCE
Russia's ally Belarus will face similar sanctions because of its role in the attack on Ukraine. Russian airline Aeroflot will be banned from landing in the UK and within days all high tech and oil refinery equipment exports to Russia will not be allowed. He said all major Russian banks will face a full UK asset freeze, which means they will not be able to access accounts, money or property in the UK. Prime Minster Boris Johnson says that after 4am UK time he spoke to President Zelensky of Ukraine to offer the support of the UK. The US, EU, UK and Japan have imposed financial penalties, called sanctions, against leading Russians and Russian banks. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden are among the leaders condemning the action.


The defence alliance, which counts the UK, US and many European countries as members, has also condemned Belarus for "enabling" the attack. But that troops being sent to Europe "would defend Nato allies" - which includes countries like Poland who share a border with Ukraine. At https://euronewstop.co.uk/why-are-there-so-many-orphans-in-ukraine.html said the US would be introducing new sanctions to "maximise long-term impact on Russia" but said US forces would not be engaging in the conflict with Russia in Ukraine. 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.


President Putin this month recognised the two regions held by the Russian-backed separatists as independent states and ordered Russian troops there, tearing up a peace deal. "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". 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. The UK's Ministry of Defence said Russian forces based in Belarus were advancing towards Ukraine's capital Kyiv. The UK "cannot and will not just look away" at Russia's "hideous and barbaric" attack on Ukraine, Boris Johnson has said.


Mr Murayev called the claims "stupid" in an interview with Reuters news agency. Russia has seized Ukrainian territory before, when it annexed Crimea in 2014, following fierce protests in Ukraine that toppled the country's pro-Russian president. Russian forces seized control of Crimea before the territory voted to join Russia in a referendum the West and Ukraine deemed illegal.

Some in Kyiv are hunkering down in the city's metro stations and air raid shelters, while others are trying to escape. Finland, Nato's newest member and a country which has an 800-mile border with Russia, has wider conscription. “Covid showed our ugly side, with people getting upset when all they were being asked to do was sit on the sofa at home,” said the former TA soldier. While the Channel has long been the country’s greatest defence, it makes it hard to import in times of war. The latest versions of those weapons includes the NLAWs (Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapons) and Javelins.
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. Opposition leaders including Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer criticised the initial package of sanctions for being too soft. Mr Johnson promised to hit Russia with a “massive” package of sanctions designed to “hobble” the economy in Moscow. This is because Nato uses a system of collective security, whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party.

Last month, the European Union paid the final instalment of a multibillion-euro support package to Ukraine to help keep its economy afloat. 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. Some global wheat prices have risen by more than 40 per cent this year and food and non-alcoholic beverages comprise 11.5 per cent of the CPI basket. An additional battlegroup of 850 troops has also begun deploying to Estonia over the past week, and 350 Royal Marines have been sent to Poland to reinforce the light cavalry squadron already stationed there. One ex senior minister suggested to me that there was a generational divide between those who had lived with the threat of the Cold War era, and those who had not.
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. And he added that any intervention from outside powers to resist the Russian attack would be met with an "instant" and devastating response. Russia has begun a large-scale military attack on Ukraine, its southern neighbour, on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Of course, for all the lessons that planners can learn from Ukraine, they will only be valuable if Russia continues to act in a similar way, should it ever become embroiled in a conflict with the West. 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. Russia has seen more success in eastern Ukraine, by pounding their opposing forces and holding them back with an onslaught.

It has cut diplomatic ties with Russia, offered weapons to anyone who wants them and declared an overnight curfew for Kyiv. As fighting intensifies, cross-Channel shipping is attacked by Russian submarines, and long-range conventional missiles strike Dover and Southampton. 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. While climate change is often deemed a "threat multiplier", it is clear from the last week "that fossil fuels are a threat multiplier too", she said. During his visit to Kyiv earlier this month, my Prime Minister announced a package of support and reaffirmed the close UK-Ukraine partnership.
Here's my website: https://euronewstop.co.uk/why-are-there-so-many-orphans-in-ukraine.html