Prime minister says Russian president’s gender a contributory factor to Ukraine invasion
Boris Johnson has claimed that Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he was a woman and believes that the war is a “perfect example of toxic masculinity”.
In an interview with German media following the G7 summit in Schloss Elmau, the prime minister cited the Russian president’s gender as a contributory factor to the conflict.
Continue reading...Ankara had previously blocked the Nordic countries from joining the alliance over concerns about arms exports and terrorism
A last minute agreement has been reached between Turkey, Finland and Sweden to allow the two Nordic countries to become Nato members on the eve of the military alliance’s summit in Madrid.
Nato said a trilateral deal had been reached at a meeting between Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President Sauli Niinistö of Finland and the Swedish prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, in the Spanish capital.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson and Liz Truss among those saying Ukraine war highlights potential Chinese threat to Taiwan
Boris Johnson and his ministers are going into the Nato summit with fresh warnings that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has shown the need for extra vigilance and caution over potential Chinese action against Taiwan.
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, who is joining the prime minister at the Nato gathering in Madrid, was most explicit, calling for faster action to help Taiwan with defensive weapons, a key requirement for Ukraine since the invasion.
Continue reading...PM insists manifesto promise of above-inflation increase will be kept despite Downing Street ‘reality check’ briefing
Boris Johnson faces a potential rift with senior ministers and generals at the start of a vital Nato summit in Madrid, after Downing Street indicated it would ditch a key manifesto commitment on defence spending.
In a chaotic sequence of events, a senior government source said there needed to be “a reality check” on the pledge to increase the defence budget each year by 0.5% above inflation, only for Johnson to try to argue it would be achieved.
Continue reading...Anthony Albanese blames lack of climate leadership and relationship breakdown with France for hindering European deals
Negotiations for a “critical” trade deal with the EU have stalled over perceptions Australia isn’t “fair dinkum” on climate change action and due to a fractured relationship with France, Anthony Albanese said.
The prime minister met with his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sánchez, on Tuesday in Madrid before the Nato summit, marking the first bilateral visit by an Australian prime minister.
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Continue reading...Saifuddin Abdullah points to risk of regional arms race but pledges increased trade and cooperation on cybersecurity with Australia
Malaysia’s foreign minister, Saifuddin Abdullah, has said that his country’s concerns about the Aukus nuclear submarine pact remain unchanged, after a meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday with his Australian counterpart, Penny Wong.
Saifuddin told reporters he communicated Malaysia’s ongoing concern about the security deal between Australia, the UK and the US during a “very candid” discussion with Wong on her first visit to the Malaysian capital as Australia’s foreign minister.
Continue reading...Russia’s attack on a shopping centre in Kremenchuk met with global outrage as officials confirm at least 18 killed in the strike
Continue reading...Defence secretary’s leaked letter to the PM warns of future shortfalls in military personnel and long range rocket artillery
Ben Wallace has reportedly written to the prime minister to call for the defence budget to be lifted to 2.5% of GDP by 2028, as newly released figures from Nato show the proportion spent by the UK has fallen for a second year running.
The defence secretary also called for increases in personnel numbers, despite recent cuts to the army, and warned of future shortfalls in naval and air force crews, as well as in long range rocket artillery.
Continue reading...Omicron BA.4/BA.5 likely to become dominant coronavirus strains in Victoria as nation records at least 23 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed
The Australian literary community is paying tribute to the writer Frank Moorhouse, who died on Sunday, aged 83.
His publisher at Penguin Random House, Meredith Curnow, said in a statement to Nine Newspapers:
Renowned for his use of the discontinuous narrative in works such as The Americans, Baby and Forty-Seventeen, Frank Moorhouse has been an active participant in Australian literature for nearly 50 years.
The Edith Trilogy, made up of the astounding novels Grand Days, Dark Palace and Cold Light have not only brought immense pleasure to so many readers, but have also affected the career paths of many women. I feel so privileged to have worked with Frank on Cold Light.
It does happen a lot in plants – like Banksia, for example, after [Joseph] Banks.
Usually, a frog scientist of such prestige and contribution will get a frog [species] named after them eventually. [Marion Anstis] never had anything named after her.
Continue reading...Liz Truss makes offer after meeting Turkish foreign minister to discuss how safe passage for convoy can be achieved
The UK is offering its expertise to help escort Ukraine’s grain from its ports under a UN plan designed to prevent a mass famine across Africa, the UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said in Ankara on Thursday after meeting Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.
Turkey has been trying to negotiate the terms of an escort for more than 20m tonnes of urgently needed Ukrainian grain, but Çavuşoğlu admitted he had not been able to secure a date for a meeting between Ukraine and Russia – a sign that an agreement on safe passage for the convoy has not been reached.
Continue reading...Fears grow over the hundreds of civilians believed to be sheltering in the city’s Azot chemical plant
Ukraine has ignored a Russian ultimatum to surrender the embattled eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, as fears grow over the hundreds of civilians trapped in the city’s Azot chemical factory.
Russia ordered Ukrainian forces a day earlier to stop “senseless resistance and lay down arms” from Wednesday morning, as Moscow controls 80% of Sievierodonetsk, a city that has become a focal point of Russia’s advances in the east of the country.
Continue reading...Former German chancellor claims her opposition to Ukraine’s Nato membership helped country
Angela Merkel has said she feels no regrets for her handling of Vladimir Putin during her time in power, arguing that Russia’s president would have perceived a 2008 Nato membership plan for Ukraine that was blocked by her government as a “declaration of war”.
The former German chancellor also claimed that an oligarch-run and democratically immature Ukraine would have been less prepared for an invasion then than it is now.
Continue reading...The Washington conference, a high-level council of war, will be headlined by Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general
Bilderberg is back with a vengeance. After a pandemic gap of two years, the elite global summit is being rebooted in a security-drenched hotel in Washington DC, with a high-powered guest list that includes the heads of NATO, the CIA, GCHQ, the US national security council, two European prime ministers, a healthy sprinkle of tech billionaires, and Henry Kissinger.
What a difference those two years have made. The western world order, which the Bilderberg group has been quietly nudging into shape for the best part of 70 years, is in all kinds of flux.
Continue reading...Kaja Kallas said security concerns over Russia gave no ‘opportunity to continue cooperation’
Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, has called for talks on a new government after her ruling coalition fell apart, urging unity because of security concerns over neighbouring Russia.
Kallas spoke to reporters after President Alar Karis accepted her request to dismiss seven Centre party ministers from the 15-strong cabinet, including the foreign minister, Eva-Maria Liimets.
Continue reading...Exit polls show majority of voters in favour of removing opt-out after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Denmark appears poised to join the EU’s common defence policy, becoming the last of the bloc’s members to sign up, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to reshape Europe’s security landscape.
Exit polls published as polling stations closed showed 69% of voters in favour of removing an opt-out to the EU’s common security and defence policy (CSDP). Thirty-one per cent of voters opposed the measure.
Continue reading...Moscow has threatened retaliation if missiles are used against its territory but US plans to ship shorter range systems
Joe Biden has said the US will not supply Ukraine with rockets that can reach into Russia, in an attempt to ease tensions with Moscow over the potential deployment of long-range missiles with a range of about 185 miles.
The White House has been weighing up pleas from Ukraine – which is losing ground in the battle for Donbas – for multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) to offset Moscow’s increasingly effective use of long-range artillery, amid Russian warnings that doing so would cross a red line.
Continue reading...US president says Putin trying to eliminate people’s identity, as governor of Luhansk says retreat in Sievierodonetsk may be needed to avoid becoming surrounded.
Joe Biden has accused Vladimir Putin of trying to “wipe out” Ukraine’s culture but suggested the plan had at least partially backfired by spurring the expansion of Nato in Europe.
The US president told 1,200 graduating cadets in Annapolis, Maryland, on Friday: “Not only is he trying to take over Ukraine, he’s literally trying to wipe out the culture and identity of the Ukrainian people. Attacking schools, nurseries, hospitals, museums, with no other purpose than to eliminate a culture.”
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed, you can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war here
Maksym Kozytskyi, the governor of Lviv, has posted a status update for the day. He said that there was one air alert overnight, but there were no strikes reported. He also said that for the first time since Lviv started accepting displaced people from elsewhere in Ukraine, there was not a single person who registered for temporary accommodation yesterday.
The impact of the war in Ukraine has been a strong theme running through the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos this week. Today, in about half-an-hour, Vitaliy Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, will be speaking about how to rebuild the Ukrainian capital after the war, and what aid will be needed. My colleague Graeme Wearden is there, and he will be covering that live on our business blog. I’ll bring you the top lines here.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed. Please join us again in a few hours when we will relaunch our live blog and in the meantime check out our latest Ukraine coverage here.
Gazprom halts gas exports to Finland
Russia’s state gas company, Gazprom, said it has halted gas exports to Finland. The country refused Moscow’s demands to pay in roubles for Russian gas after western countries imposed sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.
In addition to the humanitarian catastrophe created by the (Russian) occupiers and collaborators, the city is on the verge of an outbreak of infectious diseases, he said on the messaging app Telegram.
Continue reading...Russian airstrikes hit Mykolaiv and Donbas regions; only Ukraine can decide its future, says Polish president
Russian airstrikes hit Ukrainian forces in the Mykolaiv and Donbas regions, targeting command centres, troops and ammunition depots, the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday. The ministry said air-launched missiles hit three command points and four ammunition depots in the Donbas. In Mykolaiv, in the south, Russian rockets reportedly struck a mobile anti-drone system near the settlement of Hannivka.
Severodonetsk is one of Russia’s “immediate tactical priorities”, the UK Ministry of Defence said on Sunday. Russia is deploying Terminator tanks to the area, the MoD has said.
Severodonetsk has been attacked from “four separate directions”, said the region’s governor. Serhiy Haidai said Russian forces had not succeeded in breaking into the city.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Russia of blocking the export of 22m tonnes of food. The Ukrainian president also said an energy crisis would swiftly follow a food crisis if Ukraine was not given help to unlock its ports.
Only Ukraine has the right to decide its future, the Polish president told lawmakers in Kyiv on Sunday. Andrzej Duda said: “Worrying voices have appeared, saying that Ukraine should give in to Putin’s demands. Only Ukraine has the right to decide about its future … nothing about you without you.” Duda became the first foreign leader to give a speech in person to the Ukrainian parliament since Russia’s invasion.
Russia’s state gas company, Gazprom, halted gas exports to Finland, which refused Moscow’s demands to pay in roubles for Russian gas after western countries imposed sanctions. Gasum, Finland’s state-owned energy company, said it would use other sources, such as the Balticconnector pipeline, which links Finland to its fellow EU member Estonia.
Ukraine has suggested it is willing to resume talks with Russia. Speaking on Saturday, Zelenskiy said: “Discussions between Ukraine and Russia will undoubtedly take place … under what format I don’t know … but the war will be bloody, there will be fighting and [it] will only definitively end through diplomacy.” He added: “We want everything back. And the Russian Federation doesn’t want to return anything. That’s why the ending will be at the negotiating table.”
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