LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – As the Ukraine issue reaches a “critical juncture,” PM Johnson will meet with international leaders in a bid to bring Russia “back from the brink” of war this week.Ā
On Sunday evening, Number 10 informed that its intelligenceĀ “suggests Russia could be planning an invasion of Ukraine at any moment”, with “disastrous repercussions.”
Although the conflict on the border of UKraine had come to “a crucial juncture,” Downing Street claimed there was still a “window of opportunity for de-escalation and diplomacy.”
Following a phone discussion with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the PM is likely to resume diplomatic work in Europe this week. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has been asked to visit Ukraine.
President Zelenskyy’s administration said if Mr Biden arrives, it would send “a powerful signal and contribute to de-escalation,” according to a statement from his office.
During the talk, both leaders agreed to keep pressing both deterrence and diplomacy in order to avert a feared Russian military offensive, according to the White House.
Ukraine demanded discussions with members of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Russia within the next 48 hours on Sunday.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian foreign minister, said Moscow had failed to answer the question posed on Friday under the Vienna Document, a set of accords between the 57 nations of the OCSE.
He wrote on Twitter, “Consequently, we take the next step.”
130,000 Russian troops have gathered
After KLM. A Dutch Airline, announced it would cease flying to Ukraine and Lufthansa of Germany, considered doing the same, Ukraine committed 16.6 billion hryvnia (Ā£435 million) on Sunday to keep its airspace accessible to commercial aircraft.
When Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine the year 2014, aboutĀ two-thirds of the 298 passengers who were killed were Dutch citizens.
On Sunday, President Zelenskyy advised calm amidst growing fears of invasion from Russia in days to come.
However, due to Russian military manoeuvres in the Black Sea, Ukraine’s air traffic authority recommended airlines to avoid routes over open waters from Monday to Saturday.
Due to the “difficult operating environment linked to Russia’s unjustifiable aggression against Ukraine,” Canada, where the world’s third-largest Ukrainian population resides following Ukraine and Russia, temporarily relocated its Ukraine-based military personnel to an unannounced destination in Europe.
‘Back from the brink’
The PM would “work relentlessly alongside our partners to get Russia to pull back from the brink,” according to a Downing Street spokeswoman.
Number 10 didnāt say which global leaders Mr Johnson planned to meet, but it is thought that he is interested in meeting with Baltic and Nordic countries.
Labour stated over the weekend that ministers needed to take lessons from the “chaos” of the Afghan evacuation in order to assist civilians leaving Ukraine in case of Russian invasion.
