This could see states like Poland and the Baltics decide to aid Ukraine on their own, which might leave NATO's eastern front vulnerable and cause a crisis within the EU and European NATO. A senior European Union official has denied member states are discussing financial coercion to force Hungary to agree on financing for Ukraine. As the war approaches its second anniversary, severe weapons shortages and worrying signs of waning Western support are undermining Ukraine’s war effort. This may lead Putin to conclude that he can still emerge victorious in his confrontation with the West, which is bound to encourage further provocations in future. A victorious Russian army at the end of the Ukraine war, the ISW says, would be combat experienced and considerably larger than its pre-2022 forces. They say that Ukraine - with Western support - has destroyed nearly 90% of the Russian army that invaded in February 2022, according to US intelligence sources. A nuclear strike on any UK city would kill everyone within a 1.2-mile radius instantly. https://euronewstop.co.uk/why-are-there-so-many-orphans-in-ukraine.html exposed within a 6.8-mile radius of the impact would almost certainly suffer third-degree burns, while hundreds of thousands would be likely to die due to radiation fallout. Outrage as Bolsonaro confirms Russia trip despite Ukraine crisis Western countries have condemned the threat and are likely to impose sanctions on Moscow this week. And they have made clear that they will not send combat troops to Ukraine. True Russian cyberwarfare capabilities have proved something of a damp squib in Ukraine. 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. He said the goal was demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine. Potential energy disruption An 89-year-old woman was injured today in a Russian attack in the Kherson oblast, the regional military administration said. Since July 2023, there have been 113 incidents – a doubling of arson attacks on enlistment offices over the past six months. 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. Mr Szijarto will be in the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak. Peter Szijjarto has arrived in Ukraine for talks with senior officials today. The devastation was felt most acutely in Kharkiv, where an apartment block was hit, killing two people, and injuring 35 residents. But it boosts the strength of the professional armed forces, which is often relatively small. Mr Putin launched that attack after mass street protests in Ukraine that ousted pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. 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. However, security services would be unlikely to publicly attribute damage to Russian attacks. At the outset of the conflict, the company said it was stopping investment in Russia, where it has a large worker base, and was ending exports from its Russian factory to other parts of the world. However, research by the BBC has discovered the company is still recruiting new sales agents in Russia, with recruits offered prizes, cash bonuses and even holidays for hitting targets, the broadcaster reports. 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. If the US abandons the military alliance, it will fall to European countries to ensure a Ukrainian victory, Mr OBrien says. European countries have largely outsourced much of their military capacity and thinking on strategy and security to the States through NATO. Russia wants Nato to make a legally binding promise that Ukraine will never become a member. It also wants Nato to withdraw its forces from most Eastern European countries. The memorandum is not a treaty and lawyers dispute whether it is legally enforceable. There is a sense in the upper echelons of the British military that many politicians and most of the public have not grasped the threat they see. 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. 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. Many analysts say Beijing in particular is looking on as it formulates its own plans to reunify Taiwan with mainland China.
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