Will Russia attack the UK? What Putin has said and why there are fears that he will expand the Ukraine war

Meanwhile, UN estimates suggested more than 100,000 people have already fled their homes in Ukraine. Overnight, at least 1,000 Ukrainians arrived by train in Poland's south-eastern city of Przemysl alone. Since the invasion began in the early hours of Thursday, 194 Ukrainians - including 57 civilians - have been killed, Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said. Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Thursday morning and its forces have now advanced on the capital Kyiv. The nation’s four Vanguard-class nuclear submarines can each carry up to 16 missiles. Civil defence, military and local council sources have all confirmed no UK cities have had air raid sirens or civil defence systems in place since they were  wound up at the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s.

• British prime minister Boris Johnson will speak to Russian president Vladimir Putin later on Monday, as London attempts to pressure Moscow over its troop build-up on the border with Ukraine.
• Western intelligence estimates that Russia already has up to 100,000 troops positioned near to the border with Ukraine, along with tanks and artillery.
• 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 Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Diamond, has set sail to be on standby in the eastern Mediterranean.

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. As cars queued on Ukraine's border with Moldova, the country's pro-EU president, Maia Sandu said she was declaring a state of emergency and was prepared to give help to  tens of thousands of Ukrainians. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda also said he was signing a state of emergency to be approved by parliament.

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

Russian forces struck the settlement of Mykhailivka in the Berislav district eight times, with one shell hitting the yard of a residential building. An 89-year-old woman was injured today in a Russian attack in the Kherson oblast, the regional military administration said. Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed four of eight Russia-launched drones overnight, the air force said. Further south-east in the Zaporizhzhia region, the governor, Yuri Malashko, said an infrastructure site had been hit in a drone attack.

• Meanwhile, Indian thinktank Observer Research Foundation's Russia expert, Nandan Unnikrishnan, said India was unlikely to sign "any major military deal" with Russia because it would cross a red line with the US.
• Many analysts fear war in Ukraine could potentially spill over into other European countries.
• The decision marks the end of the Minsk peace deal, a troubled road map out of the conflict that would have left the territories in Ukraine.
• Russian forces targeted parts of the Kharkiv oblast throughout yesterday and this morning, injuring several and damaging buildings, said Oleg Synegubov, head of the Kharkiv regional state administration.
• The defence expert, who held meetings in Moscow with Russian officials last week, said one of the extra options the UK could provide are intelligence surveillance reports.

One Whitehall source told the Times that the training of Ukrainian civilians on UK soil could act as a rehearsal for rapid Army expansion. The overall effect means Finland can muster one of Europe's largest armies. The size of its active armed forces is only 19,000 personnel, but it can call on another 238,000 reserves. In Sweden and Norway, conscription is partial - not everyone gets drafted. But it boosts the strength of the professional armed forces, which is often relatively small. Conscription requires young men and women to serve for a limited time in uniform.

Russia has the world's largest supply of operational nuclear warheads – at around 4,500

Germany's Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius, recently told a German newspaper "we have to take into account that Vladimir Putin might even attack a Nato country one day". While he said such an attack is unlikely now, "our experts expect a period of five to eight years in which this could be possible". Putin has also sent his military on a “peacekeeping mission” to Ukraine, meaning that Russia will formally occupy sovereign Ukrainian territory for a second time following the 2014 annexation of Crimea.  https://euronewstop.co.uk/what-is-australia-saying-about-ukraine.html  signed by Putin on Monday also allows him to establish military bases or place missiles in the territories.

But the president has imposed martial law across the country, saying that Ukraine was "ready for everything". Blaming Nato's expansion eastwards is a Russian narrative that has gained some ground in Europe. Before the war, President Putin demanded Nato turn the clock back to 1997 and remove its forces and military infrastructure from Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Baltics.

Ukraine crisis: UK considering further military deployments and ‘unprecedented’ sanctions – as it happened

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. Russian forces launched three missiles, eight drone strikes and 82 shellings on Ukrainian troops and civilian infrastructure over the past day, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said in its morning briefing. There are reports of attacks on Ukrainian military infrastructure across the country, and Russian convoys entering from all directions. Last week, another senior Nato military chief said countries needed to be on alert "and expect the unexpected".