The Russian offensive was preceded by artillery fire and there were injuries to border guards, the DPSU said. Convoys have also entered the eastern Luhansk and Kharkiv regions, and moved into the Kherson region from Crimea - a territory that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The counter battery radar system watches the path Russian missiles take and uses complicated maths to calculate where they originated, allowing the Ukrainians to fire back. 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.
- The devastation was felt most acutely in Kharkiv, where an apartment block was hit, killing two people, and injuring 35 residents.
- On the face of it no one wants this conflict to spread but there is always the law of unintended consequences and mistakes and misunderstandings escalating into an expanded conflict, as has happened in wars in the past.
- In the case of the Moskva, the radar of the Neptune missile that is thought to have hit it was able to stay off for as long as possible - preventing the ship from detecting it - because, when it was fired, the Ukrainians knew where it was going to be.
- Meanwhile Russia's currency, the rouble, fell to an all-time low against the dollar and the euro.
A core principle of European security after World War Two was that sovereign nations have a right to make their own choices. It may not be a member of the European Union or Nato, but it is an ally of European powers and has a pro-Western government. The former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain has long been criticised for describing Germany's attempted annexation of Czechoslovakia in 1938 as "a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing".
Dominic Waghorn, international affairs editor
But his remark lives on as a challenge to all policymakers thinking about whether to engage diplomatically - and even militarily - in a potential conflict between two foreign countries. Putin did not mention anything about the growing accusations that Russia has been committing war crimes against Ukraine, despite the discovery of a mass grave near the liberated city of Izyum. https://euronewstop.co.uk/what-will-china-do-if-russia-invades-ukraine.html in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine will mean Russia can claim that Donbas etc is actually part of Russia. If Ukraine continues to advance there, Putin will threaten to use nukes to defend Russian territory.
Downing Street has dismissed a warning from the head of the British army that the UK public must be prepared to take up arms in a war against Vladimir Putin’s Russia because today’s professional military is too small. But the official said Russia could also initiate actions against Nato members such as cyber and hybrid warfare, and even physical attacks. 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.
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The Ministry of Defence (MoD) also distanced itself from the speech, which was released by the British army on behalf of the senior general, who is due to leave in the summer, having missed out on becoming head of the armed forces three years ago. The Western defence official said that if Russia chose to carry out an attack now it could do so. But he said Russian forces massed on the border were still missing some crucial elements - such as full logistical support, ammunition stocks, field hospitals and blood banks. In his speech, the defence secretary laid out some of the ways Russia had been attacking Ukraine - including allegations it had used white phosphorous. The UK's defence secretary Ben Wallace said Storm Shadow missiles will be provided to Ukraine's military - and Sky News understands that some of the missiles are already with Ukrainian troops.
The Russian president also claimed that, while the West wants to destroy Russian and turn Ukraine’s people into cannon fodder, Moscow’s aim is to “liberate the Donbas”. The West has already said it would not recognise the results of such referendums, which are set to go ahead between September 23 and 27. Putin claimed the two breakaway territories, Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, along with seized regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, want to hold referendums to join Russia. Until today the Kremlin has been claiming that its ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine has been going according to plan.
Such public arguments over money have led him into conflict with the MoD, amid reports of clashes with the chief of defence staff, Adm Sir Tony Radakin. Some allies believe Sanders should have been promoted to replace Radakin, but he was asked to step down early after serving two of three years as army chief. But the senior Western intelligence official warned that "military options are highly likely on the table in the Kremlin" if Russia's demands are not satisfied.
- The Russian Foreign Ministry said Britain should stop spreading nonsense, but the British allegations do echo similar warnings made by the American government on Thursday.
- Providing Ukraine with access to Elon Musk's Starlink system has changed the game for its forces' ability to communicate in the field.
- “If you are talking about mass mobilisation to defend the homeland, that is hundreds of thousands of people,” he said.
- These took place far away from the front lines of Russia’s war, in civilian populated areas.
- Ukraine has not seen attacks as heavy as this since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.