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After two years of political divisions and economic disruptions bolstered by an unending pandemic, many Americans say they are coming together around a common cause: support for Ukraine, a country under daily siege by Russian forces.

The rare moment of solidarity is driven, in part, by the perception of America as a steadfast global defender of freedom and democracy. Many Americans say they see a lopsided fight pitting a great power against a weaker neighbor. They see relentless images of dead families and collapsed cities. They see Ukraines president pleading for help.

In polls and interviews since the attack, Americans across the political spectrum said the nation had a duty to respond to President Vladimir V. Putins brazen invasion even if that means feeling, at least in the short term, the pinch of high gas prices and inflation.

I understand we want to stay out of it, but whats happening is worse than anyone could imagine. We can do without gas when there are children there being killed, said Danna Bone, a 65-year-old retiree in McMinnville, Ore., and a Republican. Its horrific whats happening there, and we need to be doing our part. I would like to see them doing more. What that looks like, I really dont know.

Yet interviews with more than three dozen Americans from Georgia to California show that, beyond broad consensus that Ukraine deserves support, they are unsettled and even divided on essential questions: How far should America go to defend Ukraine without thrusting the nation into another Cold War? Does the war demand U.S. military involvement?

The Biden administration has imposed an array of painful economic sanctions on Russia and blocked its oil, gas and coal imports. The administration has already approved $1.2 billion in aid to Ukraine, and President Biden is expected to announce another $800 million in military assistance. Three weeks into the invasion, most Americans in both political parties support U.S. aid to Ukraine and overwhelmingly support economic sanctions, a new Pew Research Center survey found.

Already, the issue of Americas role in Ukraine is scrambling U.S. politics and reinvigorating the bond between the United States and its European allies.

About a third of Americans said the United States was providing the appropriate amount of support to Ukraine, but an even larger share, 42 percent, is in favor of the country doing even more, the Pew survey showed. The same poll found, however, that about two-thirds of Americans do not support military intervention.

In pockets across the country, how people saw Americas global might and obligations was often influenced by their individual circumstances and economic stability. They often drew a line, if a crooked one, between the war and the crises at home. Conversations about Russian strikes and shellshocked refugees fleeing Ukraine quickly gave way to discussion about the personal cost of gas and food, a sputtering economy and the enduring pain of the pandemic, the kind of grievances that might temper support for Ukraine over time.

North of Detroit, where Macomb and Oakland Counties sit side by side but have been moving in opposite political directions in recent years Macomb to the right, Oakland to the left liberals and conservatives are united in a belief that what is happening in Ukraine is wrong and that the United States could be doing more. But they offered divergent opinions on the causes of the war or whether Mr. Biden has been adept at handling the foreign policy crisis.

I call it Russias unfinished business, Roland Benberry Jr., 61, an artist and illustrator, said of the invasion. Mr. Benberry served in the Air Force in the early 1980s when Russia was considered an imminent threat. Thirty years later, he is experiencing those feelings again. We thought we were done with that, he said. We thought the Soviet Union was gone, and it basically just went underground for a while.

Mr. Benberry, a Democrat who lives in Oakland County, believes that sanctions could be the most powerful and effective tool against Russia, and that the U.S. military should only get involved directly if the Ukrainian military is forced to fall back. He saw Mr. Putin as a lone demagogue acting on his own, against the will of many of his own citizens.

Like Mr. Benberry, Natasha Jenkins, 34, a Democrat and a liberal arts student at a community college in Oakland County, said she was willing to tolerate higher gas prices to punish Mr. Putin. But she said she wished Mr. Biden would also push for higher wages so that people could have an easier time making ends meet. She sees firsthand the impact of Americas economic strains in the grocery store, where she works the night shift as a cashier. Parents complain to her about the expensive prices of produce or the burdens of teaching their children at home amid the pandemic. Some supplies shortages linger, and she cannot keep all the shelves stocked.

Ms. Jenkins said she was reluctant to see direct U.S. military involvement in Ukraine. She has several close friends still scarred from Americas wars in the Middle East, she said, and she does not want to see more American soldiers deployed to fight abroad.

March 18, 2022, 11:45 a.m. ET

Indeed, for many Americans, the support for Ukraine firmly ends at the doorstep of military intervention. History plays a role. The long-running war and pullout from Afghanistan, along with memories of the first Cold War, has dampened the tolerance for a direct confrontation with Russia.

On a suburban street in Macomb County, Kathleen Pate, 75, has helped to organize donated clothing and medication to be sent to Ukraine. Her son and her daughter-in-law, who is from Ukraine, converted their garage into a makeshift donation hub.

The support is overwhelming, said Ms. Pate, a Republican who has spent her recent days worrying about Ukrainian families. I cant sleep at night. I cant get it out of mind.

She said she supported establishing a no-fly zone over Ukraine and had been unhappy with the U.S. response so far. I truly believe that it could be doing more to help, she said. It is the humane thing to do.

An Economist/YouGov survey conducted in early March showed that a majority of Americans, about 73 percent, sympathized more with Ukraine than Russia. The poll also showed that 68 percent approved of imposing economic sanctions, and slightly less approved of sending financial aid or weapons. But only 20 percent favored sending American troops to fight Russians in Ukraine.

Alejandro Tenorio, 24, said sanctions ought to be the primary tool to force Mr. Putin to back down, and maybe motivate the Russian people to act.

I think these political sanctions should continue. Let the people from Russia take matters into their own hands to maybe try to change the government and change their ways, said Mr. Tenorio, a tech support specialist for a data company who described himself as a left-leaning moderate.

The Biden administration, said Mr. Tenorio, who lives in Johns Creek, Ga., could be a bit more aggressive, with more things to hurt their economy.

I think that should be about it, he said. I think Biden is doing as much as he can, or as much as hes allowed to do.

An attack in the west. A missile strike rattled the outskirts of Lviv, a western city that has been a haven for people fleeing areas under siege. The mayor of the city said several missiles had struck an aircraft repair plant at the airport in Lviv, destroying the buildings.

A looming energy crisis. The International Energy Agency said that the repercussions of Russias invasion of Ukraine arelikely to intensify over the next several months, and nations around the world should respond by reducing their use of oil and gas.

Others believe that American troops on the ground are a dangerous but necessary response.

Dan Cunha is a 74-year-old Vietnam veteran and retired small business owner who lives in Anaheim, Calif. He describes himself as a political independent, and wrote in John Kasich, the Republican former governor of Ohio, in the 2020 election.

It breaks my heart to see what is happening there now, to see an autocrat rise to power, and were not doing anything to stop it, he said. He is nationalist in the extreme. If it were up to me, I would put troops there. Putin is a bully, and bullies need to be slapped back.

Mr. Cunha regularly spends time at the local V.F.W. outpost, where most of his friends are what he describes as die-hard Republicans, and said that many argue that the conflict would not have happened at all if Donald J. Trump were still president.

The majority of the veterans I talk to say the same thing as I do boots on the ground, he said.

While supportive of Ukraines plight, some Middle Eastern refugees and immigrants outside of Detroit said this conflict felt different from those in Afghanistan and Iraq, because the world is paying attention to the suffering of white European families in a way they felt that it had not with their own.

I grew up watching my country get torn apart, said Maria, a Syrian college student who asked that her full name not be used for fear of endangering her family still in the country. She emphasized that she felt and understood Ukrainians pain, and that she herself had been stunned to see Europeans go to war. But she said she hoped that Americans would realize that this is what life had been like for people in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries for decades.

The war feels personal for Maryana Vacarciuc, 24, and her husband, Radion Vacarciuc, 25. The Ukrainian immigrants have been living in the metro Atlanta area with their two children for the last three years, but they still have relatives in Ukraine.

Unlike some Ukrainian immigrants who are pressing for greater American involvement, they feel bad about the predicament of their homeland and family members and recall the last conflict in 2014 but said they recognize the limitations of the U.S. government.

I understand what Americas doing. It doesnt want to help, not more, because it doesnt want to get into more of a conflict with Russia, Ms. Vacarciuc said.

Her husband added: But if America gets too involved, then we might be the ones leaving our kids and going to fight the war, he said. Asked if America has a role to play in the Ukraine war, he said no.

America is its own country, he said. Ukraine, Russia, theyre fighting their own battles.

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Russias Ukraine Invasion Rallies a Divided Nation: The United States - The New York Times

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, an outcry has arisen around the world. On March 2, the UN voted overwhelmingly to approve a resolution demanding the end of the invasion, with only five countries opposing Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, and Syria. As the war rages on, thousands have been killed according to Ukrainian authorities and many more injured.

In response, the US, EU, UK and other countries have levelled sanctions, both general and targeted, and doors have closed to Russians around the world, from research institutions to sporting events, in protest at Russias invasion.

Sanctions have targeting banks, oil refineries, military and luxury product exports as well as members of the Russian regime and oligarchs with close ties to the Kremlin. Companies, too, have closed their doors in Russia, including fast-food giant McDonalds which has temporarily shut its roughly 850 outlets.

Surveys have suggested that the majority of Russians support the invasion. But it is difficult to determine how reliable these surveys are, in light of new crackdowns on free speech and dissent in Russia, where even the use of the word war to describe the invasion is now a crime. In the meantime, sanctions affect every Russian citizen in their daily lives both those who support and those who oppose the war, those at home and those abroad.

Al Jazeera spoke with five young Russians about their views on the invasion, and how the blowback has affected them.

Im doing OK, but the whole situation is quite tough. Literally, all of my friends and me are shocked. None of us wanted this war, and we stand in opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putins actions. But we have no right to express our position. At demonstrations, people are detained for several days or fined. Now, any anti-war speech can result in up to 15 years of imprisonment. Some of my friends are leaving the country right now, and I understand them.

Russian authorities wantto declare Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) extremist. All those platforms will stop working in Russia, but I hope that with a VPN, it will be possible to continue using them.

I deleted some of my messages because the police check social media chats on public transportation. In addition, the police recently searched the flat of a close friend of mine and then put her under house arrest for two months. I was very frightened. She had been putting up posters that said No to war around the city. The investigation is ongoing, but she is fine. But the whole situation is awful, of course.

The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the older generation is drowning in propaganda and believes that Putins actions are justified.

It is surreal. Ive already stopped communicating with my father and grandfather for a while.

Now, Im very encouraged by the fact that the world understands that the Russian people did not choose this war, that instead it was started by a president who lives in some absurd reality of his own. And if I am not imprisoned soon for speaking out against war, I want to try together with like-minded people to do everything I can to give our country hope for a peaceful future.

When I think about the conflict, I feel anxious, sad, and frustrated. Mostly because I dont understand how anyone could take this step to send people to fight, to kill others. Its scary.

On one hand, its affected everyone psychologically, economically, and in many other ways. And on the other hand, I understand that we could be hurt if we did something to try and change it. It feels like we dont have any control. Petitions and protests are forbidden. People are arrested for even walking around the area where a protest was scheduled.

Right now, we can see that the situation is changing every day, and were trying to figure out things like, How can we pay for foreign goods if the bank doesnt work? Or, What are we going to do with these publications, university admissions, and conferences that weve been rejected from because we are Russians?

For example, we cant access Zoom. And other specialised apps, like Matlab (a programming and computing platform) and Coursera (an online course platform). Also, prices for some ordinary things, like cosmetics and food, have doubled, but in many cases, we have no alternative because there are no factories here that produce those products.

I have a colleague in my laboratory who is a reviewer at an open access science publisher. Now, those who want to publish and are affiliated with Russia have been asked to withhold applications, though they have not yet been officially withdrawn. The same thing with conferences international events that take place in Moscow are all cancelled.

Its affected me. I was planning to publish this month. And were seeing products disappear from shelves rice, flour, sugar, canned food but I guess thats really just because of mass panic. I have never seen empty shelves in stores in the centre before. Yesterday, I couldnt buy contact lenses because they ran out in the store where I would normally buy them. It seems like it will close I saw employees removing shelves and emptying boxes, and the light was turned off.

There arent long lines at ATMs any more, but we saw them a few days ago. Right now, we cannot withdraw other currencies at ATMs until September.

I was thinking about leaving Russia, but there is the problem of money ticket prices have increased tenfold, and also, theres no one waiting for me over there.

Its hard to differentiate global problems from everyday ones, as you can see. But to combat the anxiety, we try to remember our connections with friends and family and enjoy the spring weather.

Im OK, physically. Mentally, Im a bit of a wreck, but Im managing.

I moved to Germany last year to get my Masters. However, my whole family is in Russia.

I was planning to go see my family right about this time, but it doesnt seem possible any more. I mean there is probably a way to go to Russia, but almost zero way for me to come back to study, and as a new semester is coming, Im not risking it. I have a residency permit right now, but it expires in May. Because of everything escalating so rapidly, Im anxious about whether Ill have issues renewing it due to me being Russian.

Due to Russian cards getting blocked and Russia being disconnected from SWIFT (the international payment system), my family had to send me some money in advance, just in case, and I had to withdraw it really quickly before I lost access to it.

My family has already seen changes in prices. My sister was struggling to get baby products for my nephew because the prices skyrocketed. One of my brothers-in-law and my father will potentially lose their jobs because their businesses worked very closely with European businesses, and all of those lines of communication are closed off now.

We have a distant relative who lives in southern Ukraine. Their town has been directly affected, so we are worried about them. Right now, they are relatively safe, but its a constant worry for my family.

We are all affected mentally, scared, and stressed. Ive been struggling with my mental health for months and everything thats happening is affecting that a lot.

Im against the war, and most of my friends and people I know feel the same way. These are mostly people around my age with the same level of education. However, when it comes to family, I, unfortunately, do have a conflict with my parents. This has been pretty hard as we have very different views.

I cant even really tell why they believe what they believe. It could be their Soviet past, or the government propaganda that has been poured out for so many years, or just that there is too much fear and anxiety to actually allow the thought that the world is different from what they expect. Regardless, Im having a pretty hard time with it. Being far away from them helps because we try to prioritise keeping our relationship intact and caring for each other more than anything. Sometimes I cant help but try to convince them, which obviously doesnt work. For the record, they dont support the war in general, they do want it to stop; however, they can justify it in their heads somehow.

Its true that all my favourite shops like H&M, Bershka, and P&B are closed. Im a little bit upset because of this. However, I have my favourite Russian showrooms, so the spring collection will be great, too.

I just bought an iPhone. It was three days before the inflation. It was rather cheap, but now I want to buy AirPods and theyre really expensive. They were 7,000 roubles and now cost more than 14,000 roubles.

My friend was going to be a trainee at an international magazine publisher, but they stopped working in Russia on his first day there. As for me, Im involved in the sports industry. Im sure you know about the FIVB world volleyball championship 2022 which was planned in Russia. It wont be in Russia, now. Its like having your legs cut out from under you. Its shocking. How do you live without the thing you were living for?

I got a government email saying that we had until March 14 to download all files from Instagram. After that, it wouldnt work. TikTok isnt available either. We have VK (a Russian substitute for Facebook), but its not the same.

I cant even look at the word Telegram any more, it was on every story on Instagram. People were linking to new Telegram channels because Instagram is no longer working, saying, Lets keep in touch or This is my last story, see you on TG.

Most of my friends say that our government is awful. I dont support that view, but I do think we need some changes.

There were rallies against the war. But the older generations are for our president. One of my friends is against our government while her grandmother supports them, and I know thats caused a quarrel between them.

My feelings are mixed regarding the decision of our president.

I want peace, but my grandmother thinks our military is needed to protect Russians in eastern Ukraine. Also, my neighbour is from western Ukraine. She supports our president, despite the fact that her whole family is still over there. When I hear it from Ukrainian people, I begin to doubt that our presidents strategy is wrong. Maybe Putin and his people know more and its really all justified. I hope so, and I hope theyll stop it soon.

The situation in our economy isnt good today. Our president should care about us, about his people. What about my future? I dont want to live in isolation here.

I really cannot understand why Russians dont have the right to eat in McDonalds. Of course, that may be a strange example, but I just mean those of us who are against war still suffer from it.

Most of the sanctions seem strange to me. The heads of government started this horror, but prohibitions and sanctions have been imposed on ordinary people. Closing ordinary stores and removing some food from shops is illogical. Why take away even something insignificant from ordinary people? Were in deep s*** already. The world hates us all, thats already enough.

As for me, personally, I lost the opportunity to move into my own apartment, which I was supposed to do soon because the renovations became too expensive. Because of this, I will have to live for a long time in a place where Im not very comfortable.

I can do without access to the blocked social media platforms. But many Russians are being deprived not only of a meaningless feed with entertaining content, but also of memories, work, and also important and truthful information about what is happening, which cant be obtained from a zombie box (television). They blatantly lie to us on there.

Where I am, people typically express their opinion at rallies, on social networks and among their inner circle. Usually, people will spread the word about protests secretly. But everyone who wants to participate can easily find out about it. For example, in certain online communities, theyll just post a single number (indicating a date) and everyone understands everything. But I dont feel safe expressing my opinion, especially when I talk about it online or on the phone. I dont attend protests. Its too scary, the idea of dying or being locked up for life. Plus, I can see that despite many years of huge protests, the people have not achieved anything at all. The government doesnt need the people.

The majority of the people in Russia are against the war. Many shout about it openly, but it doesnt end in anything good. We really want to help, but we havent been able to solve problems even in our own country, and now requests are flying around that we stop the war in another country. Trust me, were still trying. We write about it on social networks, sign petitions, send money, go to rallies, but so far this hasnt yielded any results, the government only hits us with a truncheon.

And, well, if you really want to throw anger at someone, shout at least that Putin is an a****** and his retinue, and not ordinary citizens. What have we to do with it?

As told to Delaney Nolan.

Edited and condensed for clarity and length.

*Names have been changed at the interviewees request.

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Russia-Ukraine: What do young Russians think about the war? - Al Jazeera English

Russias invasion of Ukraine has shaken the global market for nickel just as the metal gains importance as an ingredient in electric car batteries, raising fears that high prices could slow the transition away from fossil fuels.

The price of nickel doubled in one day last week, prompting the London Metal Exchange to freeze trading and effectively bring the global nickel market to a standstill. After two years of supply chain chaos caused by the pandemic, the episode provided more evidence of how geopolitical tensions are destroying trading relationships that companies once took for granted, forcing them to rethink where they get the parts and metals they use to make cars and many other products.

Automakers and other companies that need nickel, as well as other battery raw materials like lithium or cobalt, have begun looking for ways to shield themselves against future shocks.

Volkswagen, for example, has begun to explore buying nickel directly from mining companies, Markus Duesmann, chief executive of the carmakers Audi division, said in an interview on Thursday. Raw materials are going to be an issue for years to come, he said.

The prospect of prolonged geopolitical tensions is likely to accelerate attempts by the United States and Europe to develop domestic supplies of commodities that often come from Russia. There are nickel deposits, for example, in Canada, Greenland and even Minnesota.

Nickel, cobalt, platinum, palladium, even copper we already realized we need those metals for the green transition, for mitigating climate change, said Bo Stensgaard, chief executive of Bluejay Mining, which is working on extracting nickel from a site in western Greenland in a venture with KoBold Metals, whose backers include Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. When you see the geopolitical developments with Ukraine and Russia, its even more obvious that there are supply risks with these metals.

But establishing new mining operations is likely to take years, even decades, because of the time needed to acquire permits and financing. In the meantime, companies using nickel a group that also includes steel makers will need to contend with higher prices, which will eventually be felt by consumers.

An average electric-car battery contains about 80 pounds of nickel. The surge in prices in March would more than double the cost of that nickel to $1,750 a car, according to estimates by the trading firm Cantor Fitzgerald.

Russia accounts for a relatively small proportion of world nickel production, and most of it is used to make stainless steel, not car batteries. But Russia plays an outsize role in nickel markets. Norilsk Nickel, also known as Nornickel, is the worlds largest nickel producer, with vast operations in Siberia. Its owner, Vladimir Potanin, is one of Russias wealthiest people. Norilsk is among a limited number of companies authorized to sell a specialized form of nickel on the London Metal Exchange, which handles all nickel trading.

Unlike other oligarchs, Mr. Potanin has not been a target of sanctions, and the United States and Europe have not tried to block nickel exports, a step that would hurt their economies as well as Russias. The prospect that Russian nickel could be cut off from world markets was enough to cause panic.

Analysts expect prices to come down from their recent peaks but remain much higher than they were a year ago. The trend would be to come down to a level close to where we last left off, around $25,000 a metric ton compared to the peak of $100,000 a ton, said Adrian Gardner, a principal analyst specializing in nickel at Wood Mackenzie, a research firm.

Nickel was on a tear even before the Russian invasion as hedge funds and other investors bet on rising demand for electric vehicles. The price topped $20,000 a ton this year after hovering between $10,000 and $15,000 a ton for much of the past five years. At the same time, less nickel was being produced because of the pandemic.

After Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, the price rose above $30,000 in a little over a week. Then came March 8. Word spread on the trading desks of brokerage firms and hedge funds in London that a company, which turned out to be the Tsingshan Holding Group of China, had made a huge bet that the price of nickel would drop. When the price rose, Tsingshan owed billions of dollars, a situation known on Wall Street as a short squeeze.

The price shot up to a little over $100,000 a ton, threatening the existence of many other companies that had bet wrong and prompting the London Metal Exchange to halt trading.

Shortages of essential metals. The price of palladium, used in automotive exhaust systems and mobile phones, has been soaring amid fears that Russia, the worlds largest exporter of the metal, could be cut off from global markets. The price of nickel, another key Russian export, has also been rising.

Financial turmoil. Global banks are bracing for the effects of sanctionsintended to restrict Russias access to foreign capital and limit its ability to process payments in dollars, euros and other currencies crucial for trade. Banks are also on alert for retaliatory cyberattacks by Russia.

The exchange tried to restart trading in nickel twice this week with new price limits, but sudden drops caused trading to halt once again. The market is broken, said Keith Wildie, the head of trading at the London-based metals firm Romco.

There is no sign that nickel prices will lead to factory shutdowns in the way that shortages of components made in Ukraine brought assembly lines at Volkswagen, BMW and other carmakers to a standstill. It will take a few weeks for price increases to ripple through the system.

For now, automakers and other big nickel buyers like steel makers may be able to find alternative suppliers, use more recycled material or switch to battery designs that require less nickel.

There is enough nickel, Ola Kllenius, chief executive of Mercedes-Benz, said in an interview this week. But carmakers might have to pay more, he said, adding, Its not unlikely that we will have secondary effects from this conflict.

The Ukraine conflict has underscored the urgency of moving away from fossil fuels, Mr. Duesmann of Audi said. Russian oil plays a much bigger role in the global economy than Russian nickel. It would be too shortsighted to say, Electromobility doesnt work,' he said.

Beyond the immediate disruption to supplies, automakers are concerned about a retreat from the open markets that have been so good for business. Katrin Kamin, a trade expert at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany, noted that global commerce had held up remarkably well during the pandemic.

Perhaps we should speak less of globalization being in crisis and more of international relations being at a low point, Ms. Kamin said in an email.

But the Ukraine conflict, she added, is a major blow to trade.

Ana Swanson contributed reporting.

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How the War in Ukraine Could Slow the Sales of Electric Cars - The New York Times

The US president, Joe Biden, has announced an $800m (610m) package of arms to Ukraine as the west steps up military aid against invading Russia forces.

The wests military assistance to Ukraine began cautiously with helmets and flak jackets but now includes drones that can destroy Russian tanks and artillery from 50 miles away.

The west has repeatedly refused to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine but is now supplying a range of powerful weapons. They include:

These Turkish-made drones featured prominently in videos at the start of the invasion. They showed a number of successful attacks against Russian tanks and armoured vehicles. They have since became less effective after Russia set up air defences in the battlefield. Turkey began selling the TB2 drones to Ukraine in 2019. Turkish officials have refused to disclose how many, but independent estimates reckon Ukraine has up to 50 TB2s.

Aaron Stein, director of research at the US Foreign Policy Research Institute, described them as the Toyota Corolla of drones. He said: It doesnt do everything that your high-end sports car does, but it does 80% of that. So even for a high-end military, like the US the basic concept of using in an attritable, cheap platform to strike a superior force has inherent value.

Bidens unprecedented assistance includes 100 drones, which officials have said are the Switchblade or kamikaze drone that explode on impact. Each drone is folded into a lightweight mortar launcher. Once it is fired the drones wings open out as the weapon is guided to its target. The most powerful version travels at 115mph and has a range of 50 miles. A lighter version has a range of six miles.

The latest US package includes 800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems in addition to more than 600 already promised. The FIM-92 Stinger is a man-portable air-defence system or Manpads that is typically used by ground troops but can also be used from helicopters. This type of weapon was seen as crucial to the mujahideens successful guerrilla conflict in the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s. Germany has also pledged to send 500 Stinger missiles.

The Javelin is an anti-tank missile system that uses thermal imaging to find its target. The latest US package includes 2,000 of these missiles. They can be fired from a shoulder launcher or from the ground.

The White House says it is sending 6,000 AT4 portable anti-tank weapons as part of the package outlined by Biden. The Swedish-made 84mm-calibre weapon has a range of 500 metres. It requires little training to use, but is single-shot so it has be discarded after it is fired. Thousands more anti-tank weapons are being supplied by European countries. These include Germany, which has pledged 1,000 anti-tank weapons from its inventory; Norway with 2,000; and Sweden, which has delivered 5,000.

The UK has sent 3,615 of these British-Swedish-made short-range next generation light anti-tank weapons or NLAW missiles. Hundreds more are also expected to be sent at a cost of 120m. The missiles weigh only 12.5kg and are just over 1 metre long, making them easy for infantry to use. They have a maximum range of just 800 metres. The US has also pledged 1,000 light anti-armour weapons.

The UKs defence minister, Ben Wallace, has also promised to supply an unspecified number of high-velocity Starstreak anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine. The Belfast-made weapons are known to be the fastest short-range surface-to-air missile. They accelerate after launch and include three laser-guided submunitions to increase the chance of hitting their targets.

Poland proposed to allow all of its MiG-29 fighter jets, of a kind familiar to Ukraines pilots, to be transferred via a US airbase in Germany. The plan was blocked by the US, but the US has sent other Soviet-era aircraft to Ukraine in the form of five Mi-17 helicopters.

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What weapons have other countries supplied to Ukraine? - The Guardian

Russias invasion of Ukraine will have a profound impact on the worlds race to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions, climate experts have warned but it may not all be negative.

Vladimir Putins attempts to wield his dominance over European energy supplies as a weapon to limit interference in his war appear in danger of backfiring. Europe is embarking on a clean energy push that could reduce Russian gas imports by more than two-thirds, while the UK will set out an energy security strategy within days that will emphasise renewable power. In the US as well as pumping more fossil fuels president Joe Biden is renewing efforts to pass his mauled green investment package.

David Blood, the prominent financier who with Al Gore founded Generation Investment Management, believes the Ukraine war should boost green energy. The irony is, this war is funded by the wests dependence on Russian hydrocarbons. There is now significant evidence to show that hydrocarbons are not just environmentally unsustainable, but that they weaken the social, political and economic fabric of our world too, he said. This war provides even more evidence of why there is no time to waste in transitioning away from fossil fuels and towards a cleaner future.

This fresh impetus to decarbonisation probably caught Putin by surprise, as he had been happy to use climate to exacerbate tensions within the west, said Rachel Kyte, dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University in the US, and a former high-ranking World Bank climate expert.

She said EU countries commitment last year to reach net zero emissions by 2050 may have fed into the Russian presidents calculation that he should no longer delay his long-standing ambitions over Ukraine. Every step towards clean energy in Europe diminishes his economic hold over EU states: Europe gets 40% of its gas from Russia, rising to 60% for Germany, but that demand must all but disappear by 2050 if the net zero aspirations are to be met.

Putins understanding of what decarbonisation, especially in Europe, would mean for Russian energy exports in the medium and long term may have been one factor in the timing of his invasion of Ukraine now, said Kyte. The more time passed, so the appetite for fossil fuels would diminish. However, the nature of the wests pivot away from Russian fuel in response was likely not part of the calculus.

In the long-running UN annual negotiations on the climate, Russia has played a low-key but not outwardly obstructive role for decades. Todd Stern, former US climate envoy under president Barack Obama, and who helped negotiate the 2015 Paris climate agreement, said Russia didnt try to throw sand in the gears but did little to help.

Nothing Ive ever seen suggests [Putin] has had any desire to be an active, high-ambition player, he added. I doubt climate has entered into his calculations except when he thinks he can get something for it.

Something Putin could get for it has been to foment populist culture wars, particularly in the US where he acted, according to Kyte, as the climate whisperer to president Donald Trump, encouraging scepticism of scientific consensus. Russian social media bots and troll farms honed their disinformation techniques for years on lies about climate science.

Yet Putin himself is believed not to be a climate denier, and listens to Russian experts who have made clear the climate chaos that will come from rising carbon emissions. The deeper question is whether the Russian president regards those ravages as a problem. Heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, floods and rising sea levels will scour the planet, but those impacts will be diffused across the vast landmass of Russia the biggest country on the planet, but sparsely populated compared with rivals such as China, India and the US.

According to the comprehensive report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, published at the end of February, Russia will fare far better in terms of the impact on agriculture than regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia and the US. Its productivity for some key crops such as wheat could increase. The biggest risk the IPCC found to Russia was permafrost thaw.

Putin is even hoping to exploit some aspects of the climate crisis, such as the melting of the Arctic ice cap, which could open up new shipping passages and make oil and gas drilling easier. Russia is notably pushing its Arctic territorial claims, even while invading Ukraine.

Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House climate change adviser, says the Russian president has no scruples over inflicting climate catastrophe on the rest of the world, while seeking advantages for himself.

Putin has acted with utter contempt for the climate, just as he has violated all norms on human rights and international sovereignty, said Bledsoe, who is now at the Progressive Policy Institute in Washington DC. He is planning massive new oil and gas developments in the Arctic, which would devastate that fragile region, including by hastening the disappearance of Arctic sea ice, which is crucial to global climate stability. And he has done nothing to prevent Siberian tundra melt, which will unleash gigantic new methane releases. Putin has made Russia a climate outlaw state.

In an optimistic analysis, if the Ukraine war accelerates the shift to renewable energy in the EU, the UK and the US, it could mark a turning point for the worlds efforts to decarbonise. Campaigners warn the opposite could also be true, and an expanded role for fossil fuels could push the goal of staying within 1.5C of global heating out of reach. But Stern believes that fear could be overdone.

What China does or does not do to meet the call of the Glasgow climate pact to ramp up its [emissions-cutting target] will almost surely have much greater impact on account both of Chinas carbon footprint, and the power of its example for other high-emitting developing countries, he said. Whether the US Congress delivers climate legislation will also make a big difference.

Even in the best case, however, the human cost and suffering inflicted recklessly and willingly by Putin in Ukraine will cast a deep shadow over the worlds efforts to prevent climate breakdown. Governments scrambling to deal with the military threat, the refugee crisis and the economic impacts of this Russian-made crisis will be in a poorer position to concentrate on the looming threat of the climate emergency.

By definition, [the war] demands intensive focus and so diminishes the amount that relevant leaders focus on climate, said Stern. When youre trying to get big things done, that diminishing of focus can matter.

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Could Ukraine war help end wests reliance on hydrocarbons? - The Guardian