Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Are you taking any steps because of the Ukraine situation?

616 replies

DetailMouse · 25/02/2022 09:16

The situation for those in the country is heartbreaking, I've sobbed at several news stories this morning and my heart aches for a Ukrainian friend whose family is still there.

On a far more selfish, practical level have you "done" anything to protect yourself and your own situation? If nothing else I can see an impending deepening of the financial crisis. A friend has taken all her money out of the bank, for example, but it's true she's prone to a bit of drama. Gas supply worries me a lot.

Is there anything we should be doing now to help a bit if the situation is prolonged or worsens?

OP posts:
SpinningTheSeedsOfLove · 25/02/2022 15:09

@DetailMouse

Yes because we wouldn't want the adults in charge of caring for those children to have done anything at all to be prepared...
I've sobbed at several news stories this morning and my heart aches for a Ukrainian friend whose family is still there.

On a far more selfish, practical level have you "done" anything to protect yourself and your own situation? If nothing else I can see an impending deepening of the financial crisis. A friend has taken all her money out of the bank

Lest we forget how this thread opened.

Original poster
DetailMouse · 25/02/2022 15:11

No idea what your point us there Spinning, but the thread was about how I might be able to plan protect my personal situation. Plans will be made in school to do the same, but I'm not in school today.

OP posts:
DenholmElliot · 25/02/2022 15:15

She walked out of the bank with £85k in her purse?

YanTanTetheraPetheraPimp · 25/02/2022 15:16

@strawberryapricotpie

Bloody hell. Is that a genuine thing that was sent to people? If so, I'm surprised it didn't cause mass hysteria.

Totally genuine. I was in my teens in the 80s and although I can't actually remember if the govt got as far as posting out the booklet to all households, I think they must have done because everybody knew what it contained. It had a huge impact on a society that was already very fearful of the possibility of nuclear war - it's only really in hindsight that I've properly appreciated how real the threat was, though. At 16 I took more notice of pop songs about nuclear war than the reality of it. Grin

Yes, it was real along with terrifying television adverts and political broadcasts on what to expect and do. I had two tiny children and it was really frightening.
Original poster
DetailMouse · 25/02/2022 15:19

@DenholmElliot

She walked out of the bank with £85k in her purse?
No and I never once said that she did Grin
OP posts:
strawberryapricotpie · 25/02/2022 15:21

I thought the Cuban Missile crisis was more frightening. I can remember being sent home early with the message, "WW3 could start this afternoone, go home to your family." When I got home my gran was there which was unusual, she rarely visited and if she did it was at weekends. Apparently if we were going to get blown to bit we were all going together.

Crikey, that must have been terrifying @ancientgran!

ScrollingLeaves · 25/02/2022 15:25

What did your friend do with their money they took out? It did occur to me the Russians might cut that internet cable and then there could be bank chaos, but this no doubt is over thinking.

Getting ready to be very cold.

Sparklingbrook · 25/02/2022 15:25

@DenholmElliot

She walked out of the bank with £85k in her purse?
I think the fact that people on the thread believed that might be the case (until told otherwise) speaks volumes. That's the bonkers lengths someone might go to. Grin
Anoooshka · 25/02/2022 15:26

@Bookworm20

The chance of a cyber attack from russia is pretty high. My BIL works in Cyber and says the russians are always at it anyway, and if they do launch a cyber attack it will most likely be to target the major UK banks (I think barclays and lloyds?) as that will affect alot more people than targeting the smaller ones. They'll also be targeting the infrastructure, electricity, communications etc.

Wasn't that long ago Russia launched a cyber attack on the Ukraine knocking out their power infrastructure for a significant amount of time, mid winter. About 20,000 people or something like that froze to death. he said it was used in training as an example of when a cyber attack caused actual loss of live, as opposed to just losing people money and business.

Its possible.
I don't think there is any need to be panicking but I do think if you are able to keep a couple hundred in cash in the house, don't let your cars run too low on fuel and keep enough store cupboard basics for a couple of weeks would be a sensible thing to do.

I know if a nuclear bomb gets dropped that won't matter anyway to those in range, but would be very useful to anyone not in the blast range to be able to get the hell out.

My DH works in this area too. The Russians and North Koreans are always launching cyber attacks. This has been widely reported. The Russians have already hit the main banks in Ukraine.

Ukraine is one of the main suppliers of cereals/grains to Europe. That's why it's known as Europe's breadbasket. It also supplies lots of raw materials and commodities that we require to manufacture finished goods. So, if there is a disruption to the supply of these goods, prices will probably go up.

WowIlikereallyhateyou · 25/02/2022 15:28

FFS, talk about over the top, why do these threads even exist? Scaremongering at its best.

SpinningTheSeedsOfLove · 25/02/2022 15:31

Ah yes, 'Protect And Survive'. Wasn't there something about whitewashing your windows?

ScrollingLeaves · 25/02/2022 15:34

“@DetailMouse
Of course nothing about this situation is lucky, but a war or the prospect of war is very good for a PM, especially one like Johnson who can talk a good fight and needs the public to be distracted from everything else he's done. I'd bet his rating went up overnight after the 4am phonecall was made public.“

I am not going to forget all this U.K. collusion with virtual mafia people, Russian and Chinese, and the selling off of our scarce buildings to get their dirty money. It has also been stupid to rely on energy from them. And Putin has been tolerated too long. I am pretty ignorant but I feel this way even if it is illogical.

BoredZelda · 25/02/2022 15:34

There'll be people in Ukraine now who wish they'd taken steps earlier. Full scale war is only a few miles away, if he goes over the border into a Nato country then we're all in.

Right, but Putin has been threatening the Ukraine for many years now. The threat was always there. Rather different from encouraging a run on the banks in the U.K.

TheUsualShitshow · 25/02/2022 15:34

@WowIlikereallyhateyou

FFS, talk about over the top, why do these threads even exist? Scaremongering at its best.
Because no terrible incident exists in the world if some self-obsessed people can't insert themselves into the middle of it.
garlictwist · 25/02/2022 15:36

You do realise that if everyone withdrew their money from the banks they would collapse? So best not.

I am doing nothing. What will be will be.

GatoradeMeBitch · 25/02/2022 15:36

If we reach a point of crisis where the banks lock our accounts, that money will come in handy, because she can use it to wipe her arse. Though it's plastic now, so probably still useless.

FourChimneys · 25/02/2022 15:39

What we would do in the three minutes between a nuclear warning and being obliterated was a frequent and genuinely worrying topic of conversation at my school. The threat seemed so real then.

I refuse to worry about it again.

There was no queue at our local petrol station when I went past earlier.

freckles999 · 25/02/2022 15:40

All I am doing is hoping for peace, oh, and NOT watching TikTok or going on twitter......

Sparklingbrook · 25/02/2022 15:40

Because no terrible incident exists in the world if some self-obsessed people can't insert themselves into the middle of it

I think you are on to something there!

Walkaround · 25/02/2022 15:44

If you’re genuinely expecting chaos, why on earth would you tell people you’ve withdrawn £85k from your bank account? Is it in some weird desire to be murdered for your cash by the desperate hordes who left their money in the bank until it was too late?

WowIlikereallyhateyou · 25/02/2022 15:45

@Sparklingbrook

Because no terrible incident exists in the world if some self-obsessed people can't insert themselves into the middle of it

I think you are on to something there!

Exactly!
Original poster
DetailMouse · 25/02/2022 15:49

@Walkaround

If you’re genuinely expecting chaos, why on earth would you tell people you’ve withdrawn £85k from your bank account? Is it in some weird desire to be murdered for your cash by the desperate hordes who left their money in the bank until it was too late?
No one told anyone they'd withdrawn £85k

But I agree it was a daft thing to do. I wasn't suggesting otherwise, it was just that that conversation set me thinking about whether there are things I should be doing.

OP posts:
TheUsualShitshow · 25/02/2022 15:53

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

The 85k was in reference to something else and NOT the amount the person removed from the bank.

Grantanow · 25/02/2022 15:54

A tad hysterical but there is a real chance of cyberattacks on banks, NHS and large companies so having a few weeks cash in hand might be sensible.

Sparklingbrook · 25/02/2022 15:55

@TheUsualShitshow

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

The 85k was in reference to something else and NOT the amount the person removed from the bank.

Yes for all we know it was £3.50 or something.