Did Britain's war aims harden on 27 April 2022?

Did the war's rhetoric cross a threshold on 27 April 2022? That day, the exchanges between Moscow and London grew markedly sharper, even as fighting and sabotage-style incidents continued on the ground.

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Russian forces must be pushed out of "the whole of Ukraine", including territory Russia captured eight years earlier. The BBC described the remark as the clearest statement yet of Britain's war aims.

Threats and replies

Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Russia could strike military targets on the territory of NATO countries that supply arms to the Kyiv government, adding that, as she understood it, Britain was one of them. British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab responded that such threats were "unlawful" and only added to the "pariah status" of Vladimir Putin's regime.

The exchange followed events of 26 April 2022. The UK's Armed Forces Secretary James Heappey had said Ukraine could legitimately use British weapons to strike targets inside Russia in order to disrupt attacks on Ukraine. The Russian Defence Ministry accused the UK of provoking Ukraine into attacking Russian territory and warned of a proportional response. Also on 26 April, Germany announced it would deliver 50 ex-Bundeswehr Gepard anti-air tanks to Ukraine, the first heavy weaponry it had supplied since the invasion began.

Moscow also moved on the sanctions front. Russia imposed sanctions on 287 members of the UK House of Commons, in response to sanctions on members of its State Duma. Senior cabinet ministers and Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle were among them. Separately, Russia announced its withdrawal from the World Tourism Organization ahead of a vote on its suspension from the UN specialized agency.

On the ground

Russia said it had struck 59 Ukrainian weapon facilities overnight, including a depot in Zaporizhzhia Oblast used to store weapons from the United States and Europe. Russia also said its air defences shot down a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle over Kursk Oblast, while several explosions and a fire at an ammunition depot were reported in Belgorod Oblast. Ukraine described the explosions in Russia as "payback" and "karma" for the invasion.

In occupied Kherson Oblast, the Ukrainian Air Force struck the Kherson TV Tower with a missile, temporarily forcing Russian television off the air.

One more development came from within Russia: Ihor Volobuev, a vice-president of Gazprombank, left his post and the country in disagreement with the war. He said he planned to join Kyiv's territorial defence, explaining that he was Ukrainian by nationality and born in Okhtyrka.