Britain says Russia is likely to be ramping up claims Ukraine is developing nuclear or biological weapons as “retrospective justification” for its invasion.
In its latest intelligence update on Tuesday the Ministry of Defence said there had been a “notable intensification” of nuclear accusations from Moscow since it invaded the former Soviet nation.
President Vladimir Putin on February 27 ordered his military to put nuclear deterrence forces on “special alert”, three days after the invasion was launched.
“Since the end of February there has been a notable intensification of Russian accusations that Ukraine is developing nuclear or biological weapons,” the MoD said.
“These narratives are long standing but are currently likely being amplified as part of retrospective justification for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Russian President Vladimir Putin feels most threatened by western values spreading to Ukraine.
“President Putin doesn’t like the values that are represented by Nato, the EU and that’s what he’s most angry about,” he told Sky News.
He said the latest tactics employed by the Russian military highlighted their desperation that the attack was not playing out according to plan.
“You can see them getting more desperate because they’re shelling more and more innocent people,” he said.
Asked about the possibility of some Nato member states offering a boost to Ukraine’s air defences by giving them jets, he said Britain would be making such an offer.
He said there are “very few nations” that fly MiG-29s, the planes used by the Ukrainians, therefore Britain and a lot of its allies would not be in a position to swap their own aircraft for similar ones with Ukraine.
However, he said Poland may wish to offer this type of help, and he would support it if it did.
“There are only a few countries that could accept a request by the Ukrainians,” he said. “I would support the Poles in whatever choice they make, whether they choose to or not. Those countries are on the border with Russia and Ukraine to some extent and so we will protect Poland, we’ll help them with anything they need.
“I think Ukraine should have whatever it can have to protect itself and defend itself from this naked Russian aggression.”
The UK government was heavily criticised after it emerged on Sunday only 50 visas for Ukrainians had been granted, after more than 10,000 people applied.
Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Wallace said 17,000 people had applied, and 300 visas had been granted.
Asked why it was taking so long to get through the applications, he said it is “incredibly important” for authorities to be able to carry out checks on applicants before they arrive in the UK.
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A Ukrainian serviceman walks past the vertical tail fin of a Russian Su-34 bomber lying in a damaged building in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP Photo -
An apartment building damaged after shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP Photo -
A woman puts her head in her hands as she sits on a cot in a shelter, set up for displaced persons fleeing Ukraine, inside a school gymnasium in Przemysl, Poland. AP Photo -
Belarussian and suspected Russian helicopters on the flight line at Machulishchy Air Base outside Minsk, Belarus. AP Photo -
Children look on as people fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine shelter in a school, in Drohobych, Ukraine. Reuters -
Families eat in the shelter. Reuters -
A woman looks out from a building damaged by Russian shelling in Mykolaiv, 100 kilometres away from Odesa, western Ukraine. AFP -
A wounded Ukrainian man waits in the corridor of the central hospital of Mykolaiv. AFP -
An elderly woman is carried in a shopping cart after being rescued from Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
A woman reacts as a train carrying children from Kyiv's Central Children's Hospital leaves the Ukrainian capital on its way to Lviv. Reuters -
A girl sits in an improvised bomb shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine. AP -
An elderly woman is coated in snow as she sits in a wheelchair after being rescued from Irpin. AP -
Belarusian volunteers take part in military exercises at the Belarusian Company base in Kyiv. AP -
Lessa, left, director of a nursery school turned into a refugee shelter, cries as she hugs Olega, who arrived from Kyiv with her baby, near Lviv. EPA -
Ukrainians pass a damaged bridge as they flee from Irpin. AP -
A man carries an elderly woman as people continue to leave Irpin. AP -
A soldier stands on a barricade made of sandbags in central Odesa, Ukraine. Reuters -
A charred Russian tank and captured tanks in the Sumy region. Reuters -
People rest at a temporary shelter for Ukrainian refugees in Przemysl, Poland. AFP -
Ukraine's ambassador to the Netherlands, Maksym Kononenko, third right, and his wife Tetiana Doroshenko, fourth left, attend a meeting of members of the Ukrainian community with Dutch King Willem-Alexander, third left, and Queen Maxima, second left, to discuss the situation in Ukraine, in The Hague. EPA -
A Ukrainian soldier looks at the destruction after shelling in Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv. AFP -
A refugee holds her dog as they wait for trains to Poland in Lviv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A woman ties ribbons in Ukrainian national flag colours in a girl's hair as people wait at a refugee assistance centre in Prague, Czech Republic. EPA -
A Ukrainian soldier carries an elderly woman crossing the Irpin river on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP -
Lena, who had never left Ukraine before fleeing into Moldova, feeds Dasha, 3, soon after crossing the border. Erin Clare Brown for The National -
Refugees without immediate plans to move further inland can stay the night in tents set up on Moldova's side of the border. Erin Clare Brown for The National -
Tatiana and her son wait for a van that will carry them from the Moldovan border to Chisinau. Erin Clare Brown for The National -
Each night, the Palanca refugee camp in Moldova feeds up to 300 people who arrive with no onward plans. Erin Clare Brown for The National -
People pass a damaged bridge while fleeing the town of Irpin, close to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. AP -
A Ukrainian soldier stands guard next to a church in Irpin. EPA -
A firefighter holds the baby of a Ukrainian refugee at the border in Romania. AP -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks in Kyiv. Reuters -
A Ukrainian soldier at a checkpoint in Kyiv. AP -
Ukrainian activist Ihor Mazur, left, a veteran of the war in the country's east, looks at a night-vision device in Kyiv. AP -
Ambassadors attend a UN Security Council meeting on threats to international security after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in New York. Reuters -
Ukraine's UN ambassador Sergey Kyslytsya holds a paper with an image of Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as he addresses the Security Council in New York. Reuters -
A road sign put up in support of Mr Zelenskyy outside Russia's embassy in Washington. AFP -
Ukrainian refugees at the train station in Lviv, western Ukraine. EPA -
Lethal and non-lethal Ukrainian aid is loaded on to a plane bound for Poland by Canadian soldiers in Trenton, Ontario. Reuters -
Volunteers carry medical aid and necessities at a train station in Lviv. EPA -
Everton players wear T-shirts in support of Ukraine as they warm up for an English Premier League football match against Tottenham Hotspur. AP -
A residential building damaged by Russian shelling in Chernihiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A man walks past a checkpoint in heavy snow in Lviv. Getty -
A man fleeing fighting in Irpin waits to cross a river after Russian forces entered the city. Getty -
Soldiers assist Irpin residents underneath a damaged bridge as they flee. Getty -
Ukrainian civilians who volunteered to join the Territorial Defence Forces take part in a training exercise in Odesa after Russia's invasion. Reuters -
Men carry a body to a lorry as people flee from the frontline town of Irpin. EPA -
A Ukrainian police officer runs with a child as the sound of shelling echoes nearby in Irpin. AP -
Parents and children struggle to board a train in Lviv. AP
“We can do more there and we will lean into do that,” he said.
“We have said over 200,000 people [from Ukraine] can come to this country,” he said. “They can come under a range of schemes, there’s the humanitarian scheme, there’s the family scheme.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to address the British Parliament on Tuesday and appeal for more assistance for his country.
Asked about the upcoming address, Mr Wallace expected the speech to be “incredibly powerful” and lauded Mr Zelenskyy as an “amazing guy” who has unified Ukraine in its moments of crisis.
Russia has escalated strikes on civilian areas and city centres, the US Department of Defence said.
Ten people, including children, were killed in a Russian aerial attack on a residential building in the northeastern city of Sumy.
Ukraine’s defence agency claimed a second Russian general, Vitaly Gerasimov, had been killed in the war.
