Defence Secretary Ben Wallace cuts holiday short over Ukraine crisis

Another day of seemingly last-ditch diplomacy.

Britain’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has cut short his family skiing holiday while comparing the failure of some western nations to stand up to the Russians, to Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler in 1938.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is about to fly east to become the latest Nato leader to try to persuade Vladimir Putin not to attack Ukraine.

The Russians themselves have used somewhat colourful language in response to threatened sanctions.