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Scoop of the weekend: UK steps up diplomatic efforts over Rusian threat to Ukraine

Scoop of the weekend: UK steps up diplomatic efforts over Rusian threat to Ukraine

UK

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has thanked his UK counterpart Liz Truss for London's decision to introduce large-scale sanctions against Russia.

"The UK continues to demonstrate leadership in global efforts to deter Russia from further aggression. Measures such as sanctioning Russian financial interests in the UK can hit Russia where it hurts," he tweeted.

In another tweet, he said: "If Russian officials are serious when they say they don’t want a new war, Russia must continue diplomatic engagement and pull back military forces it amassed along Ukraine's borders and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Diplomacy is the only responsible way."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will visit Ukraine next week and then will hold crisis talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over fears of Russian invasion.

Canada

Canada has made the decision to temporarily withdraw non-essential Canadian employees and remaining dependants from the Canadian embassy in Ukraine.

"As announced earlier this week, Canada will be reinforcing the team at the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, with officials with expertise in areas such as security sector reform, conflict management, democratic reform, consular services and diplomacy. Together, they will increase our diplomatic capacity and allow us to continue to assess and respond to the evolving situation in support of Ukraine," the government said.

Rumours denied

The Ukrainian Defence Ministry has published on its official website a statement of the Operational Awareness Centre regarding media reports about Russia allegedly accumulating blood supplies near the Ukrainian borders.

The Ukrainian Defence Ministry insists that these reports do not correspond to reality, and that such reports are an element of an information and psychological war aimed at provoking fear and panic in the Ukrainian society.

Donbas

One Ukrainian serviceman was wounded in Donbas on 30 January as separatists fired anti-tank grenade launchers in the direction of Stanytsya Luhanska.

Drill

The Ukrainian army's artillery units held a special tactical exercise with Msta-B howitzers near the administrative border with Crimea.

Cyber security

Mass cyber attacks which started on 13-14 January continue in Ukraine, the Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security has said.

False court inquiries containing malware have been sent out from official emails of the judiciary since 28 January.

"The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the mailing is done from the real mail servers of the judiciary," the centre said.

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