View from London: Russia issues chilling war ultimatum to UK – 'Unequivocally hostile!'

Starmer and Zelensky meeting British and Ukrainian troops
Photo: mirror.co.uk

Russia has issued an ultimatum to Britain to halt all military training for Ukrainian troops as a condition of ending the war. Supplies of arms must also be stopped, said Rodion Miroshnik, special envoy to Vladimir Putin’s foreign ministry. ‘Express’ writes from London.

Moscow made clear its aim to kill off Britain’s Operation Interflex training for Ukraine, which has drilled tens of thousands of fighters for battle.

“The participation or complicity of other countries is a key issue that must be stopped in all forms – including weapons deliveries and the training of Ukrainian militants,” said Mr Miroshnik.

“All of this amounts to direct complicity in the conflict. Halting these programmes would be a signal of willingness to seek a resolution.”

He was speaking to ‘Izvestia’, which reported: “Currently, two main Western training initiatives are active – the UK’s Operation Interflex and the EU’s EUMAM mission.” The number trained was put at 130,000.

Last week, Mr Zelensky and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer inspected Ukrainian troops undergoing training in Britain.

The call was echoed by hardliner Konstantin Kosachev, deputy speaker of the Russian senate, the Federation Council.

“Any aid that helps Ukraine continue fighting or preparing terrorist operations clearly does not promote conflict resolution,” he said. “It is unequivocally hostile to Russia. That is how we classify it.”

London and Brussels are not interested in compromise, he claimed.

“This is a clear campaign against everything Russian – a full display of militarism. I would also add that it shows a desire to shackle the Kyiv government and Ukrainian citizens into tools for achieving British and, in this case, NATO strategic aims. Moscow’s dialogue with London and Brussels has been cut off, and the EU and NATO show no intention of resuming it.”

“In practice, they are participating in the killing of our citizens while simultaneously co-ordinating terrorist attacks by the Kyiv regime on Russian territory,” said Oleg Karpovich, vice-rector of the Diplomatic Academy in Moscow.

Eddie Dempsey, RMT general secretary.
Photo: Getty Images

The RMT transport union has called for Britain to stop giving military aid to Ukraine, ‘The Telegraph’ reports.

Passed at the RMT’s annual meeting in Manchester, it said: “Despite the defeat of the Conservative government by the Labour Party at the 2024 general election, Britain continues to play a belligerent role in international relations by supplying British-made weapons, military support, credit and billions of pounds in public funding in trying and failing to achieve a military defeat for Russia in Ukraine.

“We reject the politics of lower living standards and cuts in living standards to fund a policy of unending and escalating war that last year took us to the brink of nuclear Armageddon.”

A spokesman for the RMT said: “The motion was calling for a de-escalation of war zones across the world from Gaza, Yemen and Iran as well as Ukraine.

“As many commentators from Left and Right have commented, pouring billions into the Ukraine war zone will not create the conditions for peace negotiations but simply make them harder to achieve.

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