Russia-Ukraine tensions: UK warns of plot to install pro-Moscow ally

Hours after Russia’s foreign minister and his US counterpart held what they called “frank” talks to try to reduce the chance of a wider conflict in Ukraine, a US shipment of “lethal aid” arrived in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Saturday.

The delivery, including ammunition for “front line defenders”, marked the first part of a $200m (£147.5m) security support package approved by US President Joe Biden in December.

Earlier, the chairman of the Commons Defence Select Committee warned an invasion could be imminent and said the UK must do more to support Ukraine.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also called on the government to “protect our values and security” by being “steadfast in our opposition to Russian aggression”.

Dozens of British troops have been in Ukraine since 2015 to help train their armed forces, and the UK has also made a commitment to help rebuild Ukraine’s navy following Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014.

Earlier this week, the UK announced it was sending defence weapons and extra troops for training.

Nato’s 30 members – including the UK, US and several former Soviet Union states which share a border with Russia – agree that an armed attack against one is an attack against them all, and they will come to the aid of one another.

Russia’s president has long claimed that the US broke a guarantee it made in 1990 that Nato would not expand further east. “They simply deceived us!” he said at a news conference last month.

Interpretations differ over what exactly was promised to the then-Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. But it is clear that Mr Putin believes the guarantee was made.

Since then, several central and eastern European countries, which used to be part of the Soviet Union or its sphere of influence, have joined Nato. Four of them – Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – have borders with Russia.

Russia argues that this expansion, and the presence of Nato troops and military equipment near its borders, is a direct threat to its security.

The country seized and annexed the Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine in 2014 after Ukrainians overthrew their pro-Russian president. Ever since, Ukraine’s military has been locked in a war with Russian-backed rebels in areas of the east near Russia’s borders.

There are fears that the conflict, which has claimed 14,000 lives and caused at least two million people to flee their homes, may reignite and that Russia’s military will cross the border.