The Monocle Minute

Reports of heavy fighting have been coming in from across Ukraine today as Russia launched a full-scale invasion of the country, plunging Europe into a scenario not seen since the Second World War. Russian troops crossed Ukraine’s eastern border in the early hours of this morning local time before entering from Belarus in the north and occupied Crimea in the south of the country, as well as launching airstrikes against key military installations, airfields and logistics centres. The information war has also begun, with some Russian sources saying that its forces have faced little resistance and Ukrainian media insisting otherwise.

A clear picture about the scale of the conflict remains extremely hard to come by but what is certain is that Western leaders need to send a strong and united response. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has suggested that his nation remains open for diplomacy and that it’s the West that does “not respect international law”. But the signals from Western leaders are that, until Russia pulls back its forces, diplomacy is not an option. EU representatives will meet later this evening in Brussels and G7 leaders, including Joe Biden, are preparing an unprecedented set of economic and financial sanctions on Russia, though they will not intervene militarily. There have also been appeals to Russian citizens by Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky and other Western leaders, including Boris Johnson, to stand up and show that they do not support their government’s actions.

Vladimir Putin has said that the goal of his action is the “demilitarisation” of Ukraine. The coming hours and days will show whether he has underestimated the willingness of Ukrainians to defend their nation.

For full coverage of the war in Ukraine, listen to Monocle 24’s live news shows across the day, including ‘The Globalist’, ‘The Briefing’ and ‘The Monocle Daily’.

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg (pictured below, on left) made clear today that the alliance will not be sending troops to Ukraine, which is not a member of the bloc. Speaking to Monocle 24’s The Briefing, former Nato deputy supreme allied commander Richard Shirreff was clear on why. “To do so would absolutely guarantee a third world war,” he said. But the alliance is stepping up its air and land defences in eastern member states and an emergency summit is planned for tomorrow. Several countries, including Latvia, Estonia and Poland, have agreed to hold consultations under Nato’s Article 4, which allows such talks if member nations feel under threat. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine requires Nato mobilisation on a scale not seen since the end of the cold war, according to Shirreff. “That’s going to be a challenge for Nato,” he said. “The bucket is pretty damn near empty as a result of cumulative disarmament.”

Hear more from Shirreff on today’s episode of ‘The Briefing’ on Monocle 24.