More than 25 countries, including the UK and United States, yesterday agreed to give more weapons and military aid to support Ukraine against the Russian invasion.
US President Joe Biden promised up to £448 million in “immediate military assistance” to Ukraine, though it was not clear how quickly the support would reach the embattled country. Britain has already sent 2,000 anti-tank missile launchers and UK armed forces minister James Heappey said they were looking to get more weapons to Ukraine.
He said: “We know what the Ukrainians want. We are doing our best to get it to them.”
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky – thought to be a Russian target – has refused an American offer to evacuate him and his family, saying: “I need ammunition not a ride”. But Heappey said the Ministry of Defence was working on plans to support a resistance movement and a government in exile if the government in Kyiv is finally overrun.
Heappey said: “That is a decision for the National Security Council to take but it is something that the prime minister has asked us in the Ministry of Defence to look at and plan for.”
Не вірте фейкам. pic.twitter.com/wiLqmCuz1p
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 26, 2022
British tanks have been arriving in Estonia as part of Nato moves to strengthen its eastern flank after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Ministry of Defence said Challenger 2 tanks and armoured vehicles from the Royal Welsh battlegroup have reached the Baltic state from Germany.
About 1,000 troops and more equipment are due in the coming days in a doubling of the British military presence in the country, where the UK leads a Nato battlegroup. The Netherlands has announced that it will supply 200 Stinger missiles to Ukraine.
Boris Johnson tweeted that he had spoken to the Dutch prime minister about the situation. He said: “I thanked Mark Rutte for strong co-operation in ensuring a supply of defensive aid to Ukraine. We discussed Swift (the world’s main payments network) and the need for urgent action to exclude Russia. The UK and the Netherlands are united in our condemnation of Putin’s attack.”
The US and other countries moved to freeze the assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his key ministers, including foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, as part of tougher sanctions on Russia.
Moscow yesterday warned it could react to the sanctions by opting out of the last remaining nuclear arms pact and freezing western assets.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said Moscow could have a complete review of its ties with the West, suggesting Russia could opt out of the New Start nuclear arms control treaty that limits US and Russian nuclear arsenals.
Russia also vetoed a UN Security Council resolution demanding it stop attacking Ukraine and withdraw troops immediately. The veto was expected but the US and its supporters argued the effort would highlight Moscow’s international isolation. Members voted 11-1 in favour of the resolution, with China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining.
Countries in Asia and the Pacific have joined others in sanctioning Russian banks and leading companies and setting up export controls aimed at starving Russia’s industries and military of semiconductors and other technology.
Australia said it was imposing sanctions against all 339 members of the Russian parliament as well as eight Russian oligarchs close to Putin and is considering sanctions against the president and Lavrov.
Japan and South Korea said their foreign ministers had spoken to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, but Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to say whether Tokyo plans to impose sanctions on Putin or Lavrov.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Blinken thanked Seoul over its willingness to participate in international sanctions against Russia without giving details.
China has continued to denounce sanctions against Russia and blamed the US and its allies for provoking Moscow. Beijing, worried about American power in Asia, has increasingly aligned its foreign policy with Russia to challenge the West.
And last night diplomats said the United Nations Security Council is due to vote today to call for a rare emergency special session of the 193-member UN General Assembly on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which would be held tomorrow.
The vote by the 15-member council is procedural so none of the five permanent council members – Russia, China, France, Britain and the United States – can wield their vetoes.
The move needs nine votes in favour and is likely to pass, diplomats said. Only 10 such emergency special sessions of the General Assembly have been convened since 1950.
Meanwhile, Scotland’s external affairs secretary, Angus Robertson, has written to the Russian ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, condemning the “unprovoked invasion of a peaceful, democratic neighbour in the strongest possible terms”.
Robertson said the invasion had “no conceivable justification” and would leave a “permanent stain” on the reputation of President Vladimir Putin’s regime.
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor has warned Russian commanders that he is monitoring the invasion of Ukraine and has jurisdiction to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Great photo of Scottish Government’s St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh. Proudly displaying the colours of Ukraine. 🇺🇦🏴#SlavaUkraini #StandWithUkriane https://t.co/0vJJv1C26e
— Angus Robertson (@AngusRobertson) February 26, 2022
Karim Khan said his office “may exercise its jurisdiction over and investigate any act of genocide, crime against humanity or war crime committed within Ukraine”.
French officials said marines patrolling the English Channel intercepted a cargo ship sailing under the Russian flag and escorted it to the port of Boulogne-Sur-Mer for an investigation. The interception of the vessel, the Baltic Leader, carrying cars, was triggered by sanctions levied days ago against Russia.
Other international measures against Russia have also included a visit by Pope Francis to the Russian embassy to “express his concern about the war”, the Uefa Champions League final being stripped from St Petersburg and Formula One dropping this season’s Russian Grand Prix in Sochi. Poland is refusing to play its World Cup qualifier against Russia in Moscow and Russia has been banned from the Eurovision Song Contest in Italy in May.
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