But European nations closer to Russian borders appear to be taking it more seriously. 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. The UK has been vocal in its support for Ukraine against Russian aggression, providing military aid and announcing sanctions on Russian banks and oligarchs. He said the UK was leading on creating a package of economic sanctions against Russia and was supplying defensive weaponry to Ukraine. Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg criticised Russia's reckless attack on Ukraine and said despite weeks of tireless international diplomacy, Russia had chosen the path of aggression. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accused Mr Putin of bringing war back to Europe and warned a raft of massive sanctions would be proposed later aimed at Russia's economic base and its capacity to modernise. 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. Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the defence select committee, said the West had failed to alter the trajectory of the Russian invasion. How will the UK respond to the Ukrainian invasion? Added to that are the recent border crisis involving thousands of migrants in Belarus, as well as Russia's backing of separatists in the Caucasus and elsewhere, he said. The war that erupted in eastern Ukraine in 2014 has already left 14,000 dead and an estimated 1.4 million displaced. Meanwhile, other Western defence sources have expressed concern about an increase in signals intelligence and chatter being monitored which could signal Russia's preparedness to invade. The size of its active armed forces is only 19,000 personnel, but it can call on another 238,000 reserves. A Russian lawmaker said earlier on Wednesday that the plane had been shot down by US or German missiles supplied to Ukraine. But European nations closer to Russian borders appear to be taking it more seriously. 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. Russia's ambitions, he said, were not just about seizing territory but about defeating our system and way of life politically, psychologically and symbolically. The memorandum is not a treaty and lawyers dispute whether it is legally enforceable. But it is a formal, public and written commitment by the UK to support Ukraine. This was in return for Ukraine giving up its massive arsenal of nuclear weapons, a legacy of its membership of the Soviet Union. Putin registers as presidential candidate The FCDO itself has a small presence in the country in the form of the British embassy, which has relocated to Lviv near the Polish border, nearly 300 miles west of the capital, Kyiv. Around half of the embassy’s personnel are understood to still be in the country. Up to 5,000 British citizens were estimated to be living in Ukraine before the crisis. Regional governor Mikhail Yevrayev said there was no fire, no casualties and anti-air defences had shot the drone down. The Russian president said his goal was the “demilitarisation” of Ukraine, warning that if the West were to interfere they would endure “consequences they had never seen”. As well as curbs on foreign consumer goods, there’d be runs on more basic products like medical kits, fuel canisters and masking tape to stop windows shattering during bombing raids. The UK and our allies condemn the Russian government’s unprovoked and premeditated war against Ukraine. The Ukrainians have in fact got ahead of Western militaries by developing a system - with British assistance - that uses radar and computing power to work out exactly where enemy positions are firing from. We think, in orbit… they're using some of their things as ASATS (anti-satellite weapons). Actually, just colliding with them, we can't prove that. And they may be able to disable some of them electronically as well. Providing Ukraine with access to Elon Musk's Starlink system has changed the game for its forces' ability to communicate in the field. “We currently don’t have evidence that there could have been that many people onboard the aircraft,” Budanov said. The Biden administration has announced the approval of a $23bn deal to sell F-16 warplanes to Turkey, after Ankara ratified Sweden’s Nato membership, the state department said. Those standing against Mr Putin in the upcoming election, including anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin, have until Wednesday to gather the required number of supporters' signatures to back their campaigns. 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. Ukraine uses German-made Gepard anti-aircraft guns to tackle incoming drones, while Soviet-era Buk systems are used against cruise missiles and US-made Patriots against hypersonic Kinzhal missiles. Analysis published in Le Monde quotes Ukrainian officials who said Russia still has in its stockpile around 1,000 ballistic or cruise missiles, and is able to make around 100 more per month - such as Kalibrs and Kh-101s. At least 32 people have died in Ukraine's capital in that time, 30 of them in one attack - on 29 December, when Russia launched one of the largest ever aerial attacks of this war. https://euronewstop.co.uk/what-is-a-vacuum-bomb-ukraine.html has been threatened with a military response by Russia after pledging to send long-range missiles to Ukraine. Right now, such scenarios tend to exercise only the minds of Ministry of Defence war-gamers and military thriller writers. But he was making the point that if war broke out troop numbers would be too small. But both of these demands would break key Nato principles, namely that the alliance should be open to any European country that wants to join and that all Nato members should be sovereign nations. At least 32 people have died in Ukraine's capital in that time, 30 of them in one attack - on 29 December, when Russia launched one of the largest ever aerial attacks of this war. Russia wants assurances that Ukraine will never be allowed to join Nato; that Nato members will have no permanent forces or infrastructure based in Ukraine; and for a halt to military exercises near Russia's border. Western intelligence estimates that Russia already has up to 100,000 troops positioned near to the border with Ukraine, along with tanks and artillery. Washington has suggested that force could rise to 175,000 by the end of January. Further east in Kramatorsk, in the eastern Donetsk region, the BBC's Eastern European Correspondent Sarah Rainsford said people did not expect such a full-on assault. About 10 civilians are believed to have been killed, including six in an air strike in Brovary near the capital Kyiv. A man was also killed in shelling outside the major eastern city of Kharkiv. Russia’s defence ministry has claimed its radar detected the launch of two Ukrainian missiles when a Russian Il-76 transport plane crashed on Wednesday. Moscow had aimed to seize control of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, soon after launching its invasion. NATO and the Ministry of Defence will be studying the battlefields of Ukraine closely to work out what it would mean if British forces ever became involved in a fight with the Russians. Then, Ukraine would redistribute this money depending on where this person is located,” he said. “Since early 2023, Russian Ground Forces (RGF) have been on the offensive in eastern Ukraine,” it said. A Ukrainian drone struck a Russian oil refinery 155 miles north of Moscow on Monday morning. Moscow made its army illegal shortly after launching its Ukraine offensive in February 2022. Thousands of opponents of the conflict have been censored, jailed or exiled. The foreign secretary also warned last week that harsh UK sanctions could have far-reaching consequences. Nato has a strong partnership with Ukraine (even though the country is not an official member) so it’s not surprising prime minister Boris Johnson has also joined in with Western allies in calling for an immediate de-escalation from Putin. But the official said Russia could also initiate actions against Nato members such as cyber and hybrid warfare, and even physical attacks. Russia is continuing to bombard Ukraine with missiles, with heavy fire directed at the city of Kharkiv. The General Staff statement amounted to a justification for firing on such a plane - without saying openly what it did. It also said that Russia usually provides information on the route and transport that's to be used for a swap, to make sure it's safe. But dismissing such talk doesn't mean dismissing the chance that Ukraine has made a terrible mistake.
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