RAF Mildenhall planes support Ukraine operations as PM warns Putin’s ambitions may go further

Planes from RAF Mildenhall are being used to support missions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The movements of a Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker and McDonnell Douglas KC-10A Extender have been watched by tens of thousands of people via Flightradar24, which displays real-time aircraft flight tracking information.

A US Air Forces in Europe spokesperson said: “US Air Force installations through Europe are postured to support a variety of NATO missions and contingency operations regarding Ukraine.

“RAF Mildenhall and all of our British bases execute a variety of missions, which support the defence of Europe.

“RAF Mildenhall’s refuelling platforms are providing critical refuelling support to all aerial assets moving throughout the theatre in support of contingency and routine operations.”

In Cambridge, people gathered in King’s Parade at 6pm on Friday to express their support for all University of Cambridge students, faculty and staff, and those affected by the war. It follows a gathering in the city on Thursday evening in protest at Russia’s actions.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has said the UK will “imminently” level personal sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

Boris Johnson told Nato leaders in a virtual meeting on Friday that the UK would echo measures announced by the EU to target the Russian leader.

Referring to Mr Putin’s wish to recover territory which previously fell under the USSR, he said Russia was “engaging in a revanchist mission to overturn the post-Cold War order”.

A spokesperson said: “He warned the group that the Russian president’s ambitions might not stop there and that this was a Euro-Atlantic crisis with global consequences.”

The Prime Minister also used the meeting to urge “immediate action” over the banning of Russia from the Swift payment system to “inflict maximum pain” on the Kremlin.

The move to sanction President Putin and Mr Lavrov comes after the European Union announced it was considering a similar move against the two men as it set out its latest round of measures in concert with the US and the UK.

The government has faced criticism that it has still not gone far enough despite measures to hit five further oligarchs, and targeting more than 100 businesses and individuals.

With Russian forces continuing to advance towards Kyiv, beleaguered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said sanctions had so far done nothing to deter the Russian onslaught.

Western officials have warned that the Russians could resort to thermobaric weapons – used to generate powerful, high-temperature explosions – if the Ukrainian military resistance continues to hold up their assault.

Despite beginning the attack on Thursday, the Russian forces have yet to take any of the main population centres and officials believe they failed to achieve most of their day one objectives for the invasion.

One official noted that the Russians were known to have thermobaric weapons in their armoury and that they had used them in previous conflicts.

“My fear would be that if they don’t meet their timescale and objectives, they would be indiscriminate in their use of violence,” the official said.

In other developments:

• UEFA stripped St Petersburg of May’s Champions League final and handed it to Paris, while Formula One bosses cancelled the Russian Grand Prix.
• Russia retaliated over the ban on Aeroflot flights landing in the UK by banning British flights to and over Russia.
• Maxim Yermalovich, the ambassador to the UK from Russia ally Belarus, was summoned to the Foreign Office for a dressing down over its support for Moscow’s “illegal and unprovoked actions”.
• BP is under pressure from the government to cut its ties with Russian oil giant Rosneft, in which the British-based company holds a 20 per cent stake.

Britain’s Chief of Defence Intelligence, Lieutenant General Sir Jim Hockenhull, said Russian forces were continuing to move towards Kyiv on two lines of advance.

“Their objective is to encircle the capital, to secure control of the population and change the regime,” he said. “Ukrainian armed forces continue to offer strong resistance.”

While there have been reports of sporadic fighting in the northern suburbs, most of the main Russian units were still thought to be more than 50km away.

President Putin stepped up his inflammatory rhetoric, urging Ukrainian troops to lay down their arms saying he would find it easier to negotiate with them, than “that gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis who have holed up in Kyiv and have taken the entire Ukrainian people hostage”.

Following the Nato meeting, alliance secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said it was clear the Kremlin’s objectives were “not limited to Ukraine”.

“We are facing a new normal in European security where Russia openly contests the European security order and uses force to pursue its objectives,” he said.

He said the alliance was deploying thousands more troops to the eastern member states – who fear they could be the next target of Russian aggression – would “do what it takes to protect and defend every ally and every inch of Nato territory”.

Earlier, defence secretary Ben Wallace ruled out calls for Britain to help mount a no-fly zone over Ukraine because the RAF fighting Russian jets would trigger a “war across Europe”.

“He is trying to invade Ukraine. He won’t stop after Ukraine. He will use everything in the Baltic states. He doesn’t believe the Baltic states are really countries,” Mr Wallace told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“And we will have to stand up to it. Now, I cannot trigger a European war and I won’t trigger a European war but what I will do is help Ukraine fight every street with every piece of equipment we can get to them, and we will support them, and that is the reality.”

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