Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has warned Russia that, it would be “disastrous” and a “painful, violent and bloody business” should they decide to invade Ukraine.
Speaking at the Foreign Office, which pulled some embassy staff out of Ukraine, the PM said the situation is “pretty gloomy” but war was not inevitable.
He said the UK was “leading on creating a package of economic sanctions” against Russia.
According to Mr. Johnson, defensive weaponry is being supplied to Ukraine, adding that the UK stood “four-square with the people of Ukraine.”
Already, Russia has denied plans for military action, but tens of thousands of troops have amassed on the border.
Mr Johnson said: “The intelligence is very clear that there are 60 Russian battle groups on the borders of Ukraine, the plan for a lightning war that could take out Kyiv is one that everybody can see. We need to make it very clear to the Kremlin, to Russia, that that would be a disastrous step.”
Downing Street has said there were no plans to send British combat troops to defend Ukraine.
James Slack, the prime minister’s official spokesman, also added that, while the government would not speculate about the details of sanctions, “there will be significant economic measures put in place” if Russia invades.
Officials say there have been no specific threats to British diplomats but about half of the staff working in Kyiv will return to the UK. The US on the other hand has ordered relatives of its embassy staff to leave, saying an invasion could come “at any time”.
The embassy moves were described as precautionary, and nothing specific is thought to have occurred in the past 24 hours to have triggered the decisions made by the US and UK.
Ukraine will still host the staff of the European Union (EU) for now, with EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, who has said he would not “dramatize” the tensions.
Members of the Nato alliance, including Denmark, Spain, Bulgaria and the Netherlands, are sending more fighter jets and warships to Eastern Europe to bolster defences in the region. With an estimated 100,000 Russian troops now at the border of Ukraine, the head of Nato has warned there is a risk of fresh conflict in Europe.
Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said he had visited Ukraine and knew the people of the country, adding that, “my judgment is that they will fight.”
“We also need to get a message that invading Ukraine, from a Russian perspective, is going to be a painful, violent and bloody business. I think it’s very important that people in Russia understand that this could be a new Chechnya.”
UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson
There was a major separatist conflict in Chechnya in the 1990s, with a decade of ultimately unsuccessful fighting for its independence.
When asked if an invasion is forthcoming, Mr Johnson said: “I’ve got to tell you that I think the intelligence is pretty gloomy at this point. There is certainly a very, very large array of Russian forces and we have to take the necessary steps. I don’t think it’s by any means inevitable now, I think that sense can still prevail.”
Times back, Russia once seized Ukrainian territory when it annexed Crimea in 2014, following fierce protests in Ukraine that toppled the country’s pro-Russian president.
Russian forces seized control of Crimea before the territory voted to join Russia in a referendum the West and Ukraine considered illegal.
Russian-backed rebels control areas of Eastern Ukraine near Russia’s borders in a conflict, that has cost an estimated 14,000 lives. Based on this, it is forecasted that a 2015 peace deal is far from being fulfilled.
On Sunday, January 23, 2022, the UK Foreign Office accused Russia’s President Vladimir Putin of planning to install a pro-Moscow figure to lead Ukraine’s government.
However, former Ukrainian MP, Yevhen Murayev, in a media interview, called the claims “stupid.”
The Foreign Office has warned against all travel to Crimea and two areas of Eastern Ukraine, Donetsk oblast and Luhansk oblast, except for essential travels to the rest of Ukraine.
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