Thousands of British troops will be deployed in high-profile military exercises on Russia ’s borders in a show of strength against Vladimir Putin ’s invasion of Ukraine.
Around 8,000 soldiers will take part in European training missions alongside NATO and UK Joint Expeditionary Force allies this summer.
Some 120 British Warrior armoured personnel carriers, 72 Challenger 2 tanks and a dozen AS-90 guns will be sent to countries including Finland, Poland, Estonia and Lithuania.
That news came as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited devastated towns around Kyiv yesterday and branded the war “evil” and “absurd”.
Tensions are rising in countries sharing boundaries with Russia.
The NATO wargames – codenamed Arrow, Hedgehog, Defender and Swift Response –will take place until June in “one of the largest deployments since the Cold War”, according to the Ministry of Defence.
Field Army Chief Lieutenant General Ralph Wooddisse said: “The UK makes a significant contribution to the defence of Europe and the deterrence of Russian aggression. The British Army’s series of exercises is fundamental to both.
“We continue to deploy across Europe, from the Baltic to the Aegean, to train and fight alongside our allies, providing powerful, capable and ready forces to support NATO and show the UK’s commitment to peace and security. The scale of the deployment – coupled with the professionalism, training and agility of the British Army – will deter aggression at a scale not seen in Europe this century.”
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “The security of Europe has never been more important.”
War is raging in the eastern Donbas region, where Moscow has supported separatist rebels since 2014 following its illegal invasion of Crimea. But Mr Wallace added: “Putin, having failed in nearly all its objectives, may seek to consolidate what he’s got, sort of dig in, and be a cancerous growth within Ukraine.
“It will make it very hard to move them out of those fortified positions.
“If we want this to not happen, we have to help Ukrainians effectively get the limpet off the rock.”
Mr Guterres, on his visits to Borodyanka, Bucha and Irpin yesterday, said: “When I see those destroyed buildings, I imagine my family in one of those houses. I see my granddaughters running away in panic and part of the family eventually killed.
“The war is an absurdity, the war is evil, and there is no way that a war can be acceptable in the 21st century.”
US President Joe Biden has asked Congress for £26.5billion to bolster Ukraine, including £16billion for weapons and other military assistance.
He said: “We need to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom. It’s not cheap but caving in to aggression is going to be more costly.”
'Slaughterhouse in the heart of Europe'
Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney spoke movingly about her children with Hollywood star husband George as she urged the United Nations to deliver justice on Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
Mrs Clooney called on countries to speed-up investigations so evidence does not languish in storage - as it has for victims of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
"Ukraine is, today, a slaughterhouse, right in the heart of Europe," Mrs Clooney told the Security Council in New York.
“Putin’s aggressive war is so outrageous that even after repeated warnings from the US and Russia’s long criminal record, Ukrainians couldn’t believe that this could happen.”
She admitted she struggles with the grisly details emerging from the war zone.
“I still read news headlines not knowing quite how to process them,” said Mrs Clooney, who married From Dusk Till Dawn actor George in 2014.
“Could it be that thousands of children are being forcibly deported to Russia?
“Could it be that teenage girls are being raped in the street in front of their family and their neighbours?
“Was a building that had the word ‘children’ on it really bombed?
“And are civilians today in Mariupol systematically being tortured and starved to death?
“Unfortunately, the answer is yes.”
She highlighted a 2017 Security Council vote she helped promote for a UN team to collect, preserve and store evidence of possible international crimes committed by ISIS in Iraq.
It was the same year her twins Alexander and Ella were born.
"My children are now almost five and so far most of the evidence collected by the UN is in storage – because there is no international court to put ISIS on trial," she said.
The International Criminal Court, which handles war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and crimes of aggression, has no jurisdiction because Iraq and Syria are not members.
Mrs Clooney is part of an international legal task force advising Ukraine on securing accountability for victims, and working with the Hague-based ICC.
Its top prosecutor Karim Khan opened an investigation a week after Russia's invasion.
Visas for refugees
Britain's response to the Ukraine refugee crisis has deepened risks of human trafficking and exploitation, a report claims today.
The 49-page study was drawn-up by University College London experts for the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner.
Lead author Dr Ella Cockbain said: “There was clear consensus among experts from across different backgrounds that new risks specific to this war are interacting with existing systemic issues in the UK, putting many refugees from Ukraine at heightened risk of human trafficking and exploitation – both on the way to the UK and once here.
“Policy decisions can make a vital difference between building resilience and providing access to much needed rights and support, and actively creating and exacerbating risks to already marginalised and vulnerable groups.
“Both improved crisis responses and longer-term strategic planning are vital in reducing the risk of refugees from Ukraine being trafficked and exploited in the UK.
“Simply warning people about human trafficking and modern slavery is not enough, they need to be given safer, better options and access to vital support if things go wrong.”
Around a fifth of Ukrainian refugees who have been issued with visas under the Homes for Ukraine scheme have arrived in the UK, Government figures showed yesterday.
A total of 86,100 visas had been issued as of Wednesday under the Ukraine Family scheme and the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship scheme.
But, as of Monday, just 27,100 Ukrainians had arrived in the UK, according to figures from the Department for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities and the Home Office.
It includes 11,110 through the sponsorship route - 21.6% of the 51,300 with visas granted.
Around 16,000 have arrived under the family scheme - 45.8% of the 34,900 issued visas.
Overall, just 31.4% of those granted visas under both schemes have arrived in the UK.
A Government spokeswoman said: “In response to Putin’s barbaric invasion we launched one of the fastest and biggest visa schemes in UK history - 86,000 visas have been granted with over 27,000 Ukrainians arriving safely in the UK.
“Thanks to changes we made to streamline the system, thousands of visas are being granted every day, but it is right that security checks are conducted on both applicants and sponsors to make sure Ukrainians fleeing the war and sponsors are safeguarded.
“Under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, councils must make at least one in-person visit to a sponsor’s property and following guests arrival, they have a duty to ensure the guest is safe and well.”