LONDON: Britain warned Russia on Wednesday that it was ready to deal with any incursion into its territory after the spy ship Yantar was detected on the edge of UK waters north of Scotland.
Defense Secretary John Healey said the Russian vessel had directed lasers at pilots of surveillance aircraft monitoring its activities.
“My message to Russia and to Putin is this: We see you. We know what you’re doing. And if the Yantar travels south this week, we are ready,” Healey said during a speech in London.
The Russian embassy in a statement accused the British government of being “Russophobic” and “whipping up militaristic hysteria,” adding that Moscow has no interest in undermining the UK’s security.
Healey issued the warning as he made the case for increased defense spending a week before the government releases its new budget. While Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged big increases in military spending in the face of threats from Russia, China and Iran, the government is facing tough choices as it eyes tax increases and spending cuts to close a multi-billion-pound shortfall in its finances.
Healey also announced plans to build at least six new munitions factories at sites from Scotland to Wales. The government in June committed 1.5 billion pounds ($2 billion) to build the plants, which it says will create at least 1,000 jobs, drive economic growth and insure that the military has a constant supply of explosives, propellants and pyrotechnics.
British officials said the Yantar is part of the Russian navy, designed to conduct surveillance in peacetime and sabotage during times of war. Because of this, the UK and its allies track the ship and work to deter its operations whenever it approaches British territorial waters.
“It is part of a Russian fleet designed to put and hold our undersea infrastructure and those of our allies at risk,” Healey said, referencing attacks on pipelines and cables under the Baltic Sea earlier this year.
This isn’t the first time the Yantar has probed Britain’s defenses, Healey said. After a warning last year, the Yantar left UK waters for the Mediterranean. When the Russian ship later sailed through the English Channel in January, it was followed by HMS Somerset, a frigate assigned to homeland defense.
Healey said the UK must adjust to a “new era of hard power.” He cited the conflict in the Middle East, troubles between India and Pakistan and Chinese spies targeting democratic institutions in the UK, as well as the war in Ukraine.
Britain in June pledged to increase defense spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product by 2035, in line with most other NATO nations. The commitment includes 3.5 percent of GDP on core defense spending, with another 1.5 percent on infrastructure projects designed to support the nation’s defense. The UK spent about 2.3 percent of GDP on defense last year.
“This is a new era of threat. It demands a new era for defense, an era of hard power, strong allies and of sure diplomacy,’’ Healey said. “And as the threat grows, Britain must step up, and we are.”
UK warns Russia it’s ready to deal with any incursion after spy ship is spotted
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UK warns Russia it’s ready to deal with any incursion after spy ship is spotted
- “My message to Russia and to Putin is this: We see you. We know what you’re doing. And if the Yantar travels south this week, we are ready,” Healey said
- The Russian embassy in a statement accused the British government of being “Russophobic” and “whipping up militaristic hysteria“
Russian drone strike kills 12-year-old boy in Ukraine as peace talks kept under wraps
- In Dnipropetrovsk region, a Russian drone attack Thursday night destroyed a house where the boy was killed and two women were injured
- The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 137 drones of various types during the night
KYIV: Russian drones struck a house in central Ukraine, killing a 12-year-old boy, officials said, while long-range Ukrainian strikes reportedly targeted a Russian port and an oil refinery as US peace efforts continued out of public view.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s meeting in Florida on Thursday with Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s lead negotiator, was “productive,” according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The American and Ukrainian officials were due to brief their respective leaders on Friday and reconvene for further talks later in the day , the official added.
The talks came after discussions between President Vladimir Putin and the US envoys at the Kremlin on Tuesday.
Previous diplomatic attempts to break the deadlock have come to nothing and the nearly four-year war has continued unabated. Officials largely have kept a lid on how the latest talks are going, though Trump’s initial 28-point plan was leaked.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country’s delegation in Miami wanted to hear from the US side about the talks at the Kremlin.
Zelensky, as well as European leaders backing him, have repeatedly accused Putin of stalling in peace talks while the Russian army tries to press forward with its invasion.
Zelensky said in a video address late Thursday that officials wanted to know “what other pretexts Putin has come up with to drag out the war and to pressure Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, who accompanied Putin on a visit to India on Friday, repeated the Russian leaders’ recent criticism of Europe’s stance on the peace talks. Kyiv’s European allies are concerned about possible Russian aggression beyond Ukraine and want a prospective peace deal to include strong security guarantees.
Kyiv’s allies in Europe are “constantly putting forward demands that are unacceptable to Moscow,” Ushakov told Russia’s state-owned Zvezda TV. “Putting it mildly, the Europeans don’t help Washington and Moscow reach a settlement on the Ukrainian issues.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that he made progress during a visit to Beijing on getting Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s support for peace efforts.
“We exchanged deeply and truthfully on all points, and I saw a willingness from the (Chinese) president to contribute to stability and peace,” Macron said.
The French president said he stressed that Ukraine needs guarantees that Russia won’t attack it again if a settlement is reached and that Europe must have a voice in negotiations.
“The unity between Americans and Europeans on the Ukrainian issue is essential. And I say it, repeat it, emphasize it. We need to work together,” Macron said.
In Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, a Russian drone attack Thursday night destroyed a house where the boy was killed and two women were injured, according to the head of the regional military administration, Vladyslav Haivanenko.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 137 drones of various types during the night.
Ukrainian drones attacked a port and an oil refinery inside Russia overnight as part of Kyiv’s campaign to disrupt Russian logistics, Ukraine’s general staff said.
The drones struck Temriuk sea port in Russia’s Krasnodar region and the Syzran oil refinery in the Samara region, starting blazes, a statement said. Syzran is about 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of the border with Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said only that its air defenses intercepted 85 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions and the illegally annexed Crimea overnight.
