Russia’s War in Ukraine

Understanding the conflict four years on.

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at British military commitments to Ukraine, South Korea’s efforts to reduce reliance on the United States, and Israeli airstrikes on a Syrian military base.

Will London Pay the Price?

The United Kingdom pledged its continued support for Ukraine on Tuesday, defying Russian threats of possible retaliation for supplying drones to Kyiv. Such posturing highlights the significant role that drone warfare has played on the battlefield, and it risks broadening the yearslong conflict into NATO territory.

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at British military commitments to Ukraine, South Korea’s efforts to reduce reliance on the United States, and Israeli airstrikes on a Syrian military base.

Will London Pay the Price?

The United Kingdom pledged its continued support for Ukraine on Tuesday, defying Russian threats of possible retaliation for supplying drones to Kyiv. Such posturing highlights the significant role that drone warfare has played on the battlefield, and it risks broadening the yearslong conflict into NATO territory.

On Monday, the Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom accused London of “deliberately opting for an escalation of the Ukraine crisis” by providing Kyiv with long-range drones capable of striking deep within Russian territory. “In doing so, the United Kingdom is acting as an accomplice and co-perpetrator of the bloody crimes and terrorist attacks” of Ukraine, the embassy wrote on Telegram. It warned that such actions “inevitably carry consequences” and that the deeper London’s involvement goes, the “higher the price it will pay.”

Moscow did not specify what these consequences could be. However, experts suggest that retaliation could take the form of attacks on British intelligence or military assets overseas as well as hybrid warfare, such as cyberattacks. “Nothing can be excluded, from my personal point of view,” former Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Fedorov told the BBC on Tuesday.

In June 2025,........

© Foreign Policy