prime minister to go, the troops rally round, but today the conservative chairman of the commons defence committee, tobias ellwood, did not exactly defend his boss when he told the bbc borisjohnson should lead, or step aside. outside downing street, demonstrators against a forthcoming police bill were making their views of the prime minister known. far more subtly, some of his own mps have also been doing so. what may be worrying the prime minister is that some of his former supporters now want him to go. one mp, elected in 2019, told me he owed his seat to borisjohnson but now, he says, this feels terminal, and he should go quickly. and another mp i spoke to several days ago, who told me then that he thought borisjohnson could ride out this political storm, got back in touch today to say he's now damaging the conservative brand and it was a question of when, not if, he leaves number 10. no cabinet minister, though, has broken ranks and there is hope inside downing street that an investigation by a senior civil servant may say that the prime minister has not broken covid rules. and the expected li

tobias ellwood, who chairs the commons defence committee, says he thinks an invasion could now be "imminentat president putin is "taking full advantage of a weakened west". russia has denied it's planning an invasion. but the us has delivered 90 tonnes of what it calls �*lethal aid' to ukraine — the first shipment since a fresh promise of assistance from president biden. in a few mins, reeta chakrabarti will be here with a round up of the day's top stories — including the latest from our correspondent in kyiv. but earlier i spoke to the economist's �*russia and eastern europe editor�* — arkady ostrovsky. i began by asking him whether he agreed that an invasion was imminent. well, to be honest with you, i must say i do not think anybody really knows what vladimir putin is going to do when he is going to do it. there is a lot of military, a lot of armour, there is a lot of parading of russian diplomats, there is a lot of diplomacy and ultimatums, those ultimatums being rejected understandably. there�*s a lot of activity, but ultimately vladimir putin holds all the cards and he holds an extrem

the chairman of the commons defence committee says the uk must do more to support ukraine as russians gather at its border. the conservative mp tobias ellwood said he thinks an invasion is now "imminent" and that president vladimir putin is "taking full advantage of a weakened west". it comes as the united states has delivered its first shipment of military cargo to ukraine, for use in the event of a conflict. here's mark lobel. the threat of conflict persists as president putin continues his apparent drive for a new post—cold war settlement. ukraine is proving the biggest foreign policy test for president biden since us troops left afghanistan. he's left the white house for camp david this weekend to meet his national security team and secretary of state antony blinken, who himself is returning from three days of crisis diplomacy. those ended in talks with his russian counterpart in geneva, which didn't get very far. what i think is possible is a negotiation with russia on some new security architecture from your model eras — the inf agreement of the �*80s, under which intermediate

tobias ellwood, who chairs the commons defence committee, said he thought an invasion was now "imminentand that president putin was "taking full advantage of a weakened west". russia has denied that it's planning an invasion. but the us has delivered 90 tonnes of what it calls "lethal aid" to ukraine, the first shipment since a fresh promise of assistance from president biden. james waterhouse reports now from the ukrainian capital, kyiv. the friendship of nations arch, built by the soviets to celebrate the closeness between russians and ukrainians. that crack was painted on by activists a few years ago as relations between the two countries deteriorated. and as talks intensify about a possible invasion, the hope is things don't break down completely. tensions are still rising on the border and today russian jets made their way to joint military drills with neighbouring belarus. ukrainian ministers have welcomed a delivery of american military equipment and now there's a call for the uk to step up its own support. the british government has delivered 2000 anti—tank missiles this week an

. _ let's speak to the conservative mp and chair of the commons defence select committee, tobias ellwoodanthony blinken described those talks in geneva as frank, because in diplomatic speak, we know what that means. what are your thoughts about whether anything will have changed other result of those talks? yes. whether anything will have changed other result of those talks?- other result of those talks? yes, i think nothing _ other result of those talks? yes, i think nothing was _ other result of those talks? yes, i think nothing was going _ other result of those talks? yes, i think nothing was going to - other result of those talks? yes, i | think nothing was going to change. this was the last diplomatic turn before the inevitable. an invasion is now imminent, you werejust speaking about prudent�*s ultimatum to nato which was never going to be accepted —— vladimir putin. that gave him the pretext of paint nato as the aggressor. you've already spoken about the combat ready troop formations — these troop numbers begin to dust continue to rise, cyber attacks have already commenced, as wel

we�*re joined now by tobias ellwood, conservative mp and chair of the commons defence select committeetruth. can you see a way through this? polarised is _ of truth. can you see a way through this? polarised is a _ of truth. can you see a way through this? polarised is a great _ this? polarised is a great description. no one is optimistic talks in brussels will lead to anything permanent or any form of agreement. russia was my ultimatum to nato in december demanded an end to nato in december demanded an end to any expansion of the alliance and nato effectively backing away from eastern europe. such conditions are totally unacceptable to nato. therefore giving russia the pretext if you like for invasion. so conflict looks increasingly likely. 0nly putin knows for sure but you have troops massed on the border, the west unwilling to protect ukraine militarily. russia holds the card. there has never been a better time because ukraine will slowly rearm, but the arrival of military aircraft in addition to the hundred thousand troops, field hospitals, special forces, thousand troops, field ho