Russia's wanton destruction against Ukraine must be stopped: UK statement to the OSCE

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.

• These took place far away from the front lines of Russia’s war, in civilian populated areas.
• Boris Johnson on Friday night backed Sir Patrick’s call for a citizen army, as he pledged to sign up if the UK went to war with Russia.
• A number of European countries also rehearse for civil emergencies - with exercises that involve ordinary citizens as well as the military.
• At the same time, Trump looks set to sweep the Republican nomination after primary victories in Iowa and New Hampshire.

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.

‘Colossal waste’: Nobel laureates call for 2% cut to military spending worldwide

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.

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.

European Union

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”. Grant Shapps, 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.

• President Putin recognises the independence of the two Russian-backed separatists areas in eastern Ukraine and says troops will be sent to support them.
• Russian forces seized control of Crimea before the territory voted to join Russia in a referendum the West and Ukraine deemed illegal.
• The term “surety” is used by the Pentagon to refer to the need to keep nuclear weapons safe when they are not being used.

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.

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.

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  https://euronewstop.co.uk/how-many-aircraft-has-russia-lost-in-ukraine.html  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”.