Ukraine Russia news: Latest as Moscow moves military blood supplies to border

Hello, I’ll be picking up the blog this morning to give you live updates on the situation in Ukraine, as Downing Street announces that Boris Johnson will “ramp up deterrence to avoid bloodshed” between Russia and Kyiv.

The prime minister is determined to “accelerate diplomatic efforts” during a trip to the region in the coming days and plans to hold a phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

A No 10 spokeswoman said: “The prime minister is determined to accelerate diplomatic efforts and ramp up deterrence to avoid bloodshed in Europe.

“He will reiterate the need for Russia to step back and engage diplomatically when he speaks to President Putin this week.”

The US defence secretary said that Russia now has a complete range of military options after building up an estimated 100,000 troops on the Ukraine border.

At a Pentagon press conference on Friday, Lloyd Austin said: “While we don’t believe that President Putin has made a final decision to use these forces against Ukraine, he clearly now has the capability.

He said the troops could be used to seize Ukrainian cities and “significant territories” or to launch “coercive acts or provocative political acts” like the recognition of breakaway territories inside Ukraine.

He urged Putin to de-escalate tensions, and appeared to warn Moscow against what the White House recently said was Russia’s intent to paint Ukraine as the aggressor using a “false-flag operation” to justify an attack.

He said: “We remain focused on Russian disinformation, including the potential creation of pretext for further invasion or strikes on Donbas.

“This is straight out of the Russian playbook. They’re not fooling us.”

Earlier on Friday, the Kremlin said Mr Putin told French president Emmanuel Macron that the West had failed to consider Russia’s key conditions of halting further Nato expansion, stopping the deployment of alliance weapons near Russian borders, and rolling back its forces from Eastern Europe.

It said Mr Putin did not want the situation with Ukraine to intensify. Sergei Lavrov, Russian defence minister, said the Kremlin did not want a war.

Washington said it had refused to compromise on Russia’s security demands in a letter to the Kremlin delivered on Wednesday.

Nord Stream 2 is a 745-mile pipeline stretching between Ust-Luga near western Russia’s border with Estonia and Greifswald in northeastern Germany, intended for the delivery of natural gas to central Europe via the Baltic Sea (Joe Sommerlad writes).

Construction on the project was completed in September 2021 at a cost of £8.3bn but it has yet to receive the necessary European regulatory approval to permit its operator, Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom, to turn on the taps.

The original Nord Stream pipeline was completed in 2012 and runs parallel with its new companion and likewise terminates at Greifswald but has a different point of origin – Vyborg, on the northern coast of the Gulf of Finland.

Nord Stream 2 will enable Russia to pump an estimated additional 55 billion cubic metres of gas to Germany each year, doubling its present capacity and increasing its regional energy dominance.

Perhaps most significantly given the present diplomatic crisis – which has seen over 100,000 Russian soldiers and armoured vehicles assemble along the Ukrainian border, seemingly primed for invasion – the twin Nord Stream pipelines allow Russia to send gas west by means other than directly through its neighbour’s territory, which it previously relied upon and for which Kyiv received lucrative transit fees.

The White House has said that it has not seen “tangible signs” that Russia is working to de-escalate the situation with Ukraine.

The Kremlin has said that it does not want a war. It said Vladimir Putin told French president Emmanuel Macron in a phone call today that he did not want the situation to intensify.

Karine Jean-Pierre, deputy White House press secretary, was asked at a press conference if Joe Biden would take Mr Putin at his word on that.

She said: “We have been very clear that we want diplomacy to work, because diplomacy is the only reasonable way to resolve this crisis that Russia has needlessly instigated by Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s border.

“We have also been consistent in saying that in order for diplomacy to work, it needs to take place in the context of de-escalation.

“So, we have not — you know, we have not seen tangible signs just yet that the Russians are in the process of de-escalating. That remains a decision for President Putin.”

She referred to the written response to Russia’s demands that the US delivered to the Kremlin on Wednesday, saying it contained “effective, constructive” ideas that addressed mutual concerns.

The letter said the US would not compromise to meet Russia’s demand that Ukraine be barred from joining Nato.

Vladimir Putin has not publicly responded to the letter but Sergei Lavrov, Russian foreign minister, said: “While they say they won’t change their positions, we won’t change ours.

“I don’t see any room for compromise here.”

Boris Johnson will hold a call with Russian president Vladimir Putin in the coming days in a last-ditch bid to persuade Moscow to “step back” from an invasion of Ukraine (Adam Forrest writes).

The prime minister will also make a trip to the region in the coming days, The Independent understands, as he tries to ramp up a strategy of “deterrence” among Western allies.

Mr Johnson is also expected to consider a series of options from the UK’s top military officials this weekend – including fresh troop deployments and further bolstering of Nato’s defences.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “He will reiterate the need for Russia to step back and engage diplomatically when he speaks to president Putin this week.”

No 10 added: “The prime minister is determined to accelerate diplomatic efforts and ramp up deterrence to avoid bloodshed in Europe.”

Volodymyr Zelensky said after his phone call with Emmanuel Macron today that intensive international negotiations reduced “the chance of escalation” in Ukraine’s stand-off with Russia.

“As long as conditions are conducive, we must meet & talk,” Mr Zelensky said in a tweet, adding that he agreed with the French president to keep up the pace of diplomatic talks.

Mr Macron’s office said in a statement that the preisdent had reaffirmed France’s “solidarity” with Ukraine in his phone call with Mr Zelensky.

Diplomats from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany met on Wednesday in a revival of the so-called Normandy talks that took place amid conflict in the Donbas region of Ukraine in 2014.

It was agreed that they would meet again in two weeks. Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said that the agreement meant a diplomatic route out of the current situation would remain open until then at least.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance will continue to offer a united front in the face of European tensions amid Russia’s “significant and unprovoked” military build-up on the Ukrainian border.

Speaking in an online discussion, hosted by the Atlantic Council, he said: “In a more unpredictable, more dangerous world it is even more important that NATO Allies stand together and build strong institutions like NATO.

“NATO is the foundation for peace and stability in this part of the world, and NATO will continue to work hard to engage in dialogue with Russia and find a political solution to the current tensions.”

The Irish premier has said he would be worried for the safety of local fishermen, if they insisted on fishing near an area set to be the focus of Russian naval exercises.

The artillery drills are due to take place at the start of February in international waters but within Irish-controlled airspace and the country’s exclusive economic zone.

The planned drills have caused considerable upset and controversy in Ireland.

Dominic McGrath has the story:

Russian troop movements near Ukraine’s border that have ratcheted up fears of a potential invasion have complicated the international political scene to a degree not seen in decades, Poland’s president said Friday.

President Andrzej Duda said the situation is “difficult” and reminiscent of 1989 when Moscow-led communist rule collapsed in Central and Eastern Europe.

Duda said that the “security, sovereignty and freedom” of neighboring Ukraine and Belarus are of great, “strategic” importance to Warsaw.

Duda spoke after talks with top national security officials and political leaders at a National Security Council meeting to discuss heightened tensions along Russia’s border with Ukraine which has long sought to join Western political and military structures and alliances.

Before the meeting, Duda said there were “no direct military threats to Poland right now.”

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday that Moscow will not start a war in Ukraine but warned that it wouldn’t allow the West to trample on its security interests. Russia has amassed more than 100,000 Russian troops near Ukraine.

Ukraine’s parliament has submitted four requests to US senators for security assistance and sanctions the country believes will discourage Russia from invading.

According to Axios, the four requests approved by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration are as follows:

1. “Expedited and higher-impact security assistance, including air defence, anti-ship and anti-armour capabilities, and flexible loans and financing mechanisms.”
2. “Immediate, mandatory sanctions” against the operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The letter refers to the pipeline as “no less an existential threat to Ukraine’s security and democracy than the Russian troops on our border.”
3. “A clear trigger” and lower threshold for sanctions against Russian actions.
4. “Mandatory pre-trigger and post-trigger sanctions against all of Russia’s most significant financial institutions.”

Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk wrote in the letter: “Ukraine speaks from centuries of experience. We understand Russia.

“We know what will and will not deter the occupants of the Kremlin.”