Notes

Two years on from Russias illegal invasion of Ukraine and this war benefits no one: UK statement at the UN Security Council
Apart from Saudi Arabia, most are already struggling to increase production in line with the cartel's recent increases in quotas. He said the UK will likely fly planes over neighbouring countries, such as Poland, where they can see into Ukraine but will not be directly involved in the conflict. Cuts have already seen the size of the British Army fall from more than 100,000 in 2010 to around 73,000 now. Gen Sanders said that within the next three years the British Army needed to be 120,000 strong with the addition of reserves. But he said even that is not enough - so the Army should be designed to expand rapidly "to enable the first echelon, resource the second echelon, and train and equip the citizen army that must follow". But he was making the point that if war broke out troop numbers would be too small.

Russia did not want to occupy Ukraine, he said, but would demilitarise and "de-Nazify" the country. Russia also has the world’s largest supply of operational nuclear warheads – at around 4,500 – making the threat of a nuclear attack the largest since the Cold War. But others have responded by "prepping for war" - stocking food and fuel. 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”.
Mr Putin said the military operation's objective was to defend the people in the breakaway areas. https://euronewstop.co.uk/what-is-france-doing-to-help-ukraine.html had repeatedly warned that Russia was poised to invade, despite repeated denials from Moscow. The US, EU, UK and Japan imposed sanctions against leading Russians, Russian banks and MPs who backed the move.

UK defence ministry: Russian enlistment offices attacks signal dissatisfaction with war
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. US forces will not get directly involved now, but military assistance will be swiftly provided by some Nato states, including lethal aid, intelligence-sharing and weapons such as man-portable missiles (as in Afghanistan). If fighting is prolonged and civilian casualties mount, pressure on the west to intervene will grow rapidly.

The UK stands with Ukraine, its democratically-elected government and its brave people at this awful time. But if Ukraine’s experience is anything to go by, the threat posed by a common enemy could have a unifying effect. But the goods were never delivered and the money was instead sent to various accounts in Ukraine and the Balkans, investigators said.
If Russia did decide to invade Ukraine, the senior Western intelligence official said large numbers of people would be displaced. Russia might use the crisis to launch cyber and other hybrid attacks on Nato countries. It could even send troops to the three Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. 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.

Is UK conscription for a citizen army a realistic plan?
A document signed by Putin on Monday also allows him to establish military bases or place missiles in the territories. The Russian president has recognised the independence of two Russian-controlled territories in east Ukraine. The territories have been armed, financed and politically controlled by Russia since 2014. But be we warriors or wimps, now is the time to start facing up to the prospect, says Ed Arnold, a European Security Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.

The funds have since been seized and will be returned to the country’s defence budget, Ukraine’s prosecutor general said. Much of the fighting appears to be centred around the east of the country. Since its illegal and unprovoked attack, over 300,000 Russian personnel have been killed or wounded. If Russia recognises their expanded borders, it may order its troops to begin an offensive against the Ukrainian army. Gross human rights violations and chemical weapons atrocities, as in Syria, cannot be ruled out.
Phillips P OBrien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, wrote in an analysis piece that the potential return of Donald Trump to the White House could see the US "neuter" the Western military alliance. Alexei Kulemzin said Ukraine was behind the strike on the eastern Ukrainian city, which is currently under Russian occupation. The Russian-installed mayor of Donetsk has reported at least three civilians have been killed in a rocket strike.


Prime Minister Boris Johnson repeated that over the weekend, saying Ukraine is not a part of NATO and therefore not entitled to NATO's one for all, all for one protection. The danger, however, with sanctions is they push Moscow further away from the West and towards the East, meaning Mr Putin may develop yet closer relations with Beijing. Germany's pausing of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is perhaps the most significant step to punish Vladimir Putin because of the likely impact on the Russian economy. Nor can much respite be expected by greater production from the OPEC cartel of oil producing nations.

According to reports, Russian missiles on Kyiv and Kharkiv killed at least 18 people and injured over one hundred. There would also be concerns about looting, especially if food shortages started to bite. 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. Kara-Murza, who suffers from a nerve disorder after surviving two poison attacks, was jailed for 25 years last April for treason and spreading "false information" about the Russian war in Ukraine. Moscow will now threaten Ukraine with a broader war if it continues to fight against the “separatists”, telling Kyiv that Russia is now obliged by treaty to defend them from attack.
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. And in a globalised world, many industries that are key in wartime rely on imports. This means were Russia to attack a neighbouring Nato state such as Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania, for example, it would then be at war with all 31 Nato members. Mr Putin has frequently warned other countries against intervening in Ukraine. A Russian vessel that features prominently in the documentary is known to have navigated waters off the coast of Scotland in November 2022 that are packed with oil and gas pipelines and communications cables. UN ambassadors have told a new BBC documentary about the moment they learned of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"Where the Ukrainians have an advantage is they're fighting for their own territory and all that massive firepower is going to be hard to use as an occupation force, as NATO found out in Afghanistan. Apart from Saudi Arabia, most are already struggling to increase production in line with the cartel's recent increases in quotas. During the third leg of his trip, the defence secretary met his Norwegian counterpart, Odd Roger Enoksen. This is why we have signed a new long term agreement on security cooperation, and announced £2.5bn more in military aid, and £18 million more in humanitarian aid for Ukraine. It has sent military equipment, weapons as well as ammunition as well as anti-tank drones to Ukraine, however, Germany’s has refused to send “lethal weapons” to Ukraine.
Website: https://euronewstop.co.uk/what-is-france-doing-to-help-ukraine.html