Boris Johnson has promised the toughen up the UK sanctions on Russia after a dawn attack by Putin's forced on Ukraine.
The Prime Minister is due to address the nation on the Ukraine crisis and to update parliament at 5pm on the details of a new sanctions package against Vladimir Putin.
Johnson this morning chaired an emergency Cobra meeting to discuss what support the UK can offer the people of Ukraine and will later attend a meeting of G7 leaders.
Earlier the Prime Minister said the Russian president has “chosen a path of bloodshed and destruction”. He is expected to announce further sanctions in the Commons this afternoon.
The meeting of the Cobra committee followed a call between Johnson and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky during the night as Russia launched its assault.
The Prime Minister has promised to respond “decisively” to the Russian onslaught after his initial package of sanctions was criticised by senior Tories and opposition figures.
Foreign Office minister James Cleverly said further sanctions are imminent.
He told the BBC: “The sanctions package that will be put in response to this is already actually having an effect. And those sanctions will be laid today and over forthcoming days to really prevent Russia from funding this invasion.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer said Putin’s attack posed a “grave threat” to international stability and said the western democracies are now involved in a battle with a dictatorship.
He said: “Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine is unprovoked and unjustifiable. His actions will have horrendous and tragic consequences that will echo throughout the world and throughout history.
“There will be dark days ahead. But Putin will learn the same lesson as Europe’s tyrants of the last century: that the resolve of the world is harder than he imagines and the desire for liberty burns stronger than ever. The light will prevail.”
Starmer added: “All those who believe in the triumph of democracy over dictatorship, good over evil, freedom over the jackboot of tyranny must now support the Ukrainian people. They have been cast onto the front line of a war, simply for existing.
“There can be no space for equivocation when faced with the evil that Putin has unleashed. His actions pose a grave threat to the international order on which we all depend.”
