Downing Street defended the UK government’s spending on defence, saying Britain had been Washington’s “partner of choice” in its strikes against Houthi rebels in the Red Sea because of its “military strength”. 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. The government says it wants to spend 2.5% of national income on defence - but has still not said when.
- Warheads three times as strong as the Hiroshima bomb would be located at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk under the proposals, the Daily Telegraph reported.
- We assume that wages do not rise to compensate for this bout of higher inflation which is driven by external forces.
- Nato members are more likely to try to bed down and endure a Trump presidency as they did from 2016.
- A prominent war expert says the US is on the verge of lessening its support for, or even withdrawing from, NATO - with potentially catastrophic consequences for Europe.
- Russia’s invasion caused international stock markets to drop dramatically, with the FTSE 100 in London falling by 3.2 per cent.
So, price increases and potential shortages in these non-energy commodities represent additional upside risks to our inflation forecast and downside risks to our real GDP forecast. Meanwhile Kaja Kallas, the Prime Minister of Estonia - which borders Russia - has told BBC News "we're gonna help Ukraine with all the means that we can" including political support and by sending weapons. Russia has denied plans for military action, but an estimated 100,000 troops have amassed on the border. It said Nato allies were sending additional ships and fighter jets to eastern Europe to reinforce defences and increase deterrence, in response to the continuing build-up of Russian forces. He said new UK sanctions against Russia would be announced "in waves" and warned it would be "the largest and most severe economic sanctions" package Russia had ever seen.
Ukraine crisis: What’s at stake for the UK?
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.
- Speaking as the Foreign Office pulled some embassy staff out of Ukraine, the PM said the situation was "pretty gloomy" but war was not inevitable.
- However, those sanctions are “now expected to be significantly expanded”, said The Times.
- But his remark lives on as a challenge to all policymakers thinking about whether to engage diplomatically - and even militarily - in a potential conflict between two foreign countries.
- As Gen Sir Patrick Sanders stated several times in his speech on Wednesday, "Ukraine really matters".
- Kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied that its forces downed a Russian military transport plane that day, but Ukrainian officials earlier this week confirmed that a prisoner swap was due to happen on Wednesday.
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. With major military packages trapped under political disagreements in the US and European Union, Ukraine is having to adapt, and look inwards. The documents revealing the decision to station nuclear warheads in the UK were posted on a US government procurement website. The term “surety” is used by the Pentagon to refer to the need to keep nuclear weapons safe when they are not being used.
Rastafarian soldier says discrimination case has destroyed his faith in the army
Downing Street said the leaders agreed that if a further Russian incursion took place, "allies must enact swift retributive responses including an unprecedented package of sanctions". It's promising to deploy British forces to eastern European members of the Nato military alliance if Russian troops cross Ukraine's borders. 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 this step is ever made, we will view it as escalation, as a step toward escalation that would take things to a direction that is quite opposite to addressing the pressing issue of pulling all nuclear weapons out of European countries,” she said. Following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, a Pentagon review of the US’s nuclear posture said it served as a “stark reminder of nuclear risk in contemporary conflict” and warned of “nuclear threats to the homeland and US allies and partners”.
On Friday, No 10 defended the Government’s military spending, pointing out that “the UK is the second biggest defence spender in Nato and the largest in Europe”. Though that scenario was rejected by Downing St as a “not helpful” hypothetical, other European countries such as Latvia and Sweden have been reviving forms of military service, and Pistorius said in December he was “looking at all options”. https://euronewstop.co.uk/what-is-putins-goal-in-ukraine.html , the British defence secretary, used even stronger language, arguing the cold war peace dividend was over and that the UK and its allies were “moving from a postwar to a prewar world” with idealism replaced by “hard-headed realism”. Last month, the European Union paid the final instalment of a multibillion-euro support package to Ukraine to help keep its economy afloat. The European Commission has proposed to provide Ukraine with €50bn ($55bn), with 26 of the 27 nation bloc’s leaders endorsing this plan at a summit before that last payout. Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, is considered to be Putin’s closest ally in the EU.
But as Ukraine is not a Nato member state, “the alliance will not provide military support in the form of troops”, Oliver Wright said in The Times. The government has already announced a package of sanctions against Russia, targeting Kremlin-linked billionaires, banks and companies. However, those sanctions are “now expected to be significantly expanded”, said The Times.
Martial law - which means the military takes control temporarily - has been imposed across the whole of Ukraine and traffic jams built up as people fled the capital city of Kyiv. He also tried to reassure the British public by promising to do "everything to keep our country safe" and work with allies "for however long it takes" to restore Ukraine's independence. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the UK "cannot and will not just look away" at Russia's "hideous and barbaric" attack on Ukraine. President Putin recognises the independence of the two Russian-backed separatists areas in eastern Ukraine and says troops will be sent to support them. Some in Kyiv are hunkering down in the city's metro stations and air raid shelters, while others are trying to escape.
- He said the UK's "baffling" decision to hold back sanctions until after Russia's incursion into Ukraine had not deterred Mr Putin.
- It also wants Nato to withdraw its forces from most Eastern European countries.
- The revival of NATO’s purpose and a unified western response have been a necessary if painful reminder of where UK interests truly lie.
But all of the measures against Russia will have negative impacts for the West too. The price of British gas for next-day delivery shot up by 40 per cent, to £280 per therm. Opposition leaders including Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer criticised the initial package of sanctions for being too soft. 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.
- Boris Pistorius, the German defence minister, gave an interview last week suggesting that while a Russian attack was not likely for now “our experts expect a period of five to eight years in which this could be possible”.
- At the press conference he 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 chief of general staff highlighted the example of Sweden, which has just reintroduced a form of national service as it closes in on joining Nato.
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. 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. Downing Street has ruled out any move towards conscription, saying the army service will remain voluntary. In its latest intelligence report, the UK Ministry of Defence said Ukrainian counter-attacks were holding Russians back from taking full control of Avdiivka.
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. 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. We have also not made any explicit adjustments for the domestic consequences of international sanctions on Russian financial institutions or individuals, beyond what might be reflected in equity prices in the fiscal forecast. We do not assume these actions have a material effect on overall financial stability, lending, or investment in the UK.