The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has since advised all UK citizens to leave the country, but it is not known how many remain and the FCDO has declined to comment on numbers. There are also 53 entities on the sanctions list, which mainly covers Russian-backed militias in eastern Ukraine but also includes a number of companies and the five Russian banks added on Tuesday. Since the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014, the UK has sanctioned around 183 individuals under the Russia sanctions regime. When that failed, No.10 sanctioned five Russian banks and three “hit net wealth” individuals. Russian president Vladimir Putin wants to assert his power over the neighbouring country of Ukraine because he believes they should both be under the same sphere of influence, as they were both part of the Soviet Union in the 20th Century.
- Storm Shadow is a long-range, air-launched cruise missile developed by British Aerospace and a French company, which carries a 450kg conventional warhead to a range of up to 200 miles (300km).
- Tanks and troops have poured into Ukraine at points along its eastern, southern and northern borders, Ukraine says.
- During the speech in London, the army chief said the UK needed to broadly follow Stockholm’s example and take “preparatory steps to enable placing our societies on a war footing”.
- If law and order really began to break down, security forces could be authorised to use lethal force against looters; neighbourhood vigilante groups might spring up.
- Russia has denied plans for military action, but an estimated 100,000 troops have amassed on the border.
Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, has come under frequent attack from Ukraine in recent months, including a December missile strike which killed 25 people. The Ukrainian military also said that it had recorded an increase in military transport flights to Belgorod region at the same time as the intensity of the missile strikes against Kharkiv had risen. Russia’s defence ministry has claimed its forces have captured the Ukrainian village of Tabaivka in Kharkiv. In his speech, the defence secretary laid out some of the ways Russia had been attacking Ukraine - including allegations it had used white phosphorous.
UK will not look away from Russia invasion in Ukraine - PM
"The Russians tried to concentrate their attacking power… and just aim at one or two cities," Mr Musiyenko said. Nearly 60 people have been killed nationwide, with Kharkiv in the northeast, Zaporizhzhia in the south, Odesa on the southern coast and even Lviv in the far west all suffering strikes. Russia's Vladimir Putin vowed to increase attacks on Ukraine - now Kyiv is realising what he meant.
A Russian pensioner has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for sharing a post on social media about the casualties suffered by the armed forces in Ukraine. In Rostov, governor Vasily Golubev said a drone was downed over a campsite in the Neklinovsky district, which borders eastern Ukraine. “There are battles taking place near this locality,” ground forces spokesman Volodymyr Fityo said, admitting that the Russian army was “trying to advance in all directions”. The ministry said the settlement of Tabaivka, home to 34 people, was “liberated” and under Russian control.
UK citizen army: Preparing the 'pre-war generation' for conflict
The price of British gas for next-day delivery shot up by 40 per cent, to £280 per therm. Russia’s invasion caused international stock markets to drop dramatically, with the FTSE 100 in London falling by 3.2 per cent. Andrey Kelin told Times Radio on Friday that any measure the UK took against Moscow would be met with an equal response, but he refused to give further detail on how this could look. It is extremely unlikely that the UK will go to war with Russia any time soon.
- The admiral described Russia's military build-up on its border with Ukraine as "deeply worrying".
- The only airlines still flying from the UK, Wizz Air and Ryanair, have suspended all flights to the country.
- He said the UK and allies will launch a "massive package" of sanctions to "hobble" Russia's economy.
Ukraine said on Friday that Russia had returned the bodies of 77 soldiers, the AFP news agency reports, days after the crash of a Russian military transport plane threw doubt on the future of such exchanges. Joe Biden will host the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, at the White House on 9 February to discuss aid to Ukraine. This comes as the US president has been pressing Congress to embrace a bipartisan Senate deal to pair border enforcement measures with aid for Ukraine. Some Republicans have set a deal on border security as a condition for further Ukraine aid.
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. A number of European countries also rehearse for civil emergencies - with exercises that involve ordinary citizens as well as the military. 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. If war broke out in Ukraine and Russian forces occupied large swathes of the country, many civilians might flee.
Russia’s actions have drawn widespread condemnation from the West, including from Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who addressed the UK with a televised statement on Thursday.
They came from the General Staff and from Ukrainian Military Intelligence, and together amount to acknowledgement that Ukraine may have shot the plane down - though neither said so directly. While the official said it was hard to say these were all strategically related, it showed that there was an issue on Eastern Europe's eastern flank. US officials have also pointed to an increase in Russia's social media "disinformation".
- UK nationals were advised two weeks ago to leave Ukraine while commercial flights were still available.
- And he added that any intervention from outside powers to resist the Russian attack would be met with an "instant" and devastating response.
- Writing on Twitter, he added the US and its allies and partners would impose "severe sanctions on Russia" and continue to provide support to Ukraine and its people.
- The Ukrainian military also said that it had recorded an increase in military transport flights to Belgorod region at the same time as the intensity of the missile strikes against Kharkiv had risen.
- Ukraine has not seen attacks as heavy as this since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.
Despite warnings from the US and its Nato allies that any invasion by Russia of Ukraine would have "severe economic consequences," Moscow's military build-up on the border continues. Russian military convoys 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. Tanks and troops have poured into Ukraine at points along its eastern, southern and northern borders, Ukraine says. Putin, in power as either president or prime minister since the end of 1999 and in control of all the state’s levers, is widely expected to win another six-year term in March.
The admiral described Russia's military build-up on its border with Ukraine as "deeply worrying". https://euronewstop.co.uk/how-many-russian-tanks-have-been-destroyed-in-ukraine.html 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.
- Since the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014, the UK has sanctioned around 183 individuals under the Russia sanctions regime.
- 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.
- Ukrainian counter-attacks were holding Russians back from taking full control of Avdiivka, the UK Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence report.
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. Unnamed Indian government sources have suggested India wants to distance itself from Russia, according to Reuters news agency. Mr Szijarto will be in the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak. 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.