Weapons and warnings: Ukraine's crisis on 20 January 2022

What did Western governments do to back Ukraine on 20 January 2022? The clearest step came from Washington: the U.S. State Department approved the delivery of U.S.-made weapons systems from the Baltic states to Ukraine, including FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank guided missiles and FIM-92 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.

A day after Blinken's arrival

The approval followed a busy 19 January. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv in a show of support for Ukraine, on a one-day visit that included a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had said the previous day that Russia could at any point launch an attack on Ukraine and that no option was off the table.

On the same day, US President Joe Biden said a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine would bring a more severe penalty than a "minor incursion". He also predicted that Russian President Vladimir Putin "will move in" on Ukraine, adding that he "has to do something".

Britain's deliveries and Moscow's response

Britain was already moving weapons. As reported on 19 January, the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force continued flights to Ukraine delivering "thousands" of MBT LAW anti-tank missiles to the Ukrainian military. Russia accused Britain of "fuelling the crisis" by sending lethal weapons to Ukraine.

Concern in the Baltic

The security picture was also being read from the Baltic. On 19 January, Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas warned that the presence of Russian troops in Belarus posed a "direct threat" to Lithuania.

Taken together, the reports from 19 and 20 January show a sequence: a senior US diplomat in Kyiv, public warnings from Washington about the consequences of an invasion, British missile deliveries criticised by Moscow, and a US decision that opened the way for Baltic-held Javelin and Stinger missiles to reach Ukraine.