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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Nadeem Badshah (now); Andrew Sparrow (earlier)

Boris Johnson says ‘Putin must fail’ after Cobra meeting – as it happened

Vladimir Putin Ukraine Boris Johnson Russia United Kingdom NATO United States David Davis Cobra Europe
Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson addressed MPs about sanctions on Russia following Ukraine invasion. Photograph: House of Commons/PA

You can follow our main blog on the developments in Ukraine here:

A summary of today's developments

  • Boris Johnson told ministers it is “a dark day in the history of our continent” following the invasion of Ukraine during a Cabinet meeting which followed a Cobra meeting. Johnson said Vladimir Putin has launched “a cynical and brutal invasion for his own vainglorious ends”, a No 10 spokesman said.
  • Eleven Labour MPs who signed an open letter from the Stop The War Coalition that criticised Nato have now withdrawn their names. The PA news agency understands they were threatened with the removal of the whip if their names were not taken off the letter.
  • Boris Johnson has signalled that Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, could face war crimes charges over the invasion of Ukraine. He told MPs “anyone who sends a Russian into battle to kill innocent Ukrainians” could be brought to court. The prime minister added the UK is working with allies to set up a “particular international war crimes tribunal for those involved in war crimes in the Ukraine theatre”.
  • Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader and a former energy secretary, has criticised the government for not including the energy companies Gazprom and Rosneft in the sanctions list.
  • The Foreign Office released a statement with more detail of the sanctions package unveiled by the PM. It says the government will: Freeze the assets of all Russian banks including, today, a full asset freeze on VTB, Russia’s largest bank. Co-ordinated with the US this is by far the single biggest financial sanction in history. Individuals and companies whose assets are frozen will be unable to undertake any business in the UK or with UK nationals. Prevent Russian companies from borrowing on the UK markets, effectively ending the ability of those companies closest to Putin to raise finance in the UK. This is in addition to banning the Russian state itself from raising funds in the UK, as previously announced.

Here is a selection of some other front pages from Friday’s newspapers.

The front page of Friday’s Guardian:

Video footage has emerged which appears to show military vehicles at the site of the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl.

Cyber experts have identified a new strain of computer-disabling malware unleashed on Ukrainian targets as part of Russia’s offensive, as the UK government and banks said they were on alert for online attacks.

Russia was widely expected to launch a cyber assault alongside its military campaign, and the run-up to the invasion of Ukraine was marked by the deployment of “wiper” malware . A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, which paralyses websites by bombarding them with spurious information requests, also hit Ukrainian government sites.

On Wednesday, ESET Research Labs, a Slovakia-based cybersecurity company, said it had detected a new piece of data-wiping malware on hundreds of machines in Ukraine.

The Cabinet was also briefed by the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee Sir Simon Gass and the Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin.

The PM’s spokesman added: “The Prime Minister concluded by saying Putin must fail, and that the UK would work with its allies to achieve the restitution of the sovereignty of Ukraine.”

Johnson: A 'dark day' for the continent after Ukraine invasion

Boris Johnson told ministers it is “a dark day in the history of our continent” following the invasion of Ukraine during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday evening which followed a Cobra meeting.

Johnson said Vladimir Putin has launched “a cynical and brutal invasion for his own vainglorious ends”, a No 10 spokesman said.

“He said the UK could be proud of the actions it has taken so far, playing a leading role in Nato, developing a tough economic sanctions package together with our allies, and providing lethal defensive weaponry to the Ukrainian government,” he said.

“He told Cabinet that the Ukrainian military was fighting back in defiance of Putin’s attempts to subjugate Ukraine. And he pointed to protests within Russia which demonstrated that Putin’s actions would also face resistance from within his own country.”

The head of MI6 has said Russia’s attack on Ukraine was a “long planned, unprovoked, cruel aggression”.
Richard Moore, known in Whitehall as C, tweeted that “US and UK intelligence communities uncovered Putin’s plans for Ukraine”.

He said: “We exposed his attempts to engineer ‘false flag’, fake attacks to justify his invasion. We revealed his plans to assassinate Ukrainian leaders and senior officials.

The UK must “get personal” and “seize yachts, seize homes” of those linked to Vladimir Putin, the chair of the foreign affairs select committee Tom Tugendhat told Channel 4 News.

It was in early November that US president Joe Biden took the rare step to dispatch CIA director Bill Burns to Moscow. The spy chief’s message – in part – was to warn his Kremlin counterparts that the West was concerned about unusual troop movements it was seeing near Ukraine’s border.

British officials were anxious, too. “We keep on coming back to crises over Ukraine,” one said later that month. “President Biden does not send Bill Burns to Moscow unless he is very worried about something. And so, you know, without being able to go into the full details, there is enough substance to this to make us concerned.”

A few days later, in early December, the Washington Post reported that US intelligence had found that the Kremlin was “planning a multi-front offensive as soon as early next year involving up to 175,000 troops”, from the north, east and south.

The intelligence warnings continued into January, increasingly to the irritation of Kyiv, whose president Volodymyr Zelenskiy complained that acute tensions with Russia were nothing new. “We have been in the situation for eight years,” he said at the time, referring to the start of the 2014 war with Russian-backed separatists.

In the Dail on Thursday evening, Ireland’s foreign affairs Minister Simon Coveney confirmed the Irish Embassy is no longer operating in Kyiv, PA reports.
“Our staff and other staff are transferring to a safe place as we speak,” he told the Dail. He also provided an update on the plans for a visa waiver scheme for Ukrainian nationals. Coveney said that he was working with the Irish justice minister to “put a structure and system in place that will allow Ukrainian citizens in Ireland bring their families from Ukraine to Ireland, if they judge that that’s necessary for safety reasons”. He said that he will ensure that the “system works and is streamlined”. “Likewise for Irish citizens who are in Ukraine, who of course want to bring their families with them home who may not be Irish nationals, we will also ensure that we have a process in place that will allow them to do that quickly and without impediments,” Coveney added.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has amplified pressure for tougher economic sanctions on Moscow.

The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, was among many to call for Moscow to be shut out of Swift – the world’s main international payments network – with the aim of hitting Russian trade and making it harder for its companies to do business.

Updated

Ireland will back the “strongest possible and most comprehensive” package of sanctions against Russia to punish the country for its invasion of Ukraine, the taoiseach said.

Micheál Martin said the punitive measures would reflect the “grave nature” of the assault on the Ukrainian people.

Speaking ahead of the summit of EU leaders, Martin said he would support sanctions in the financial, energy and transport sectors that would help “weaken the industrial base of Russia” and its capacity to wage a war.

EU leaders are meeting on Thursday evening to discuss and agree on a range of sanctions against Moscow, PA reports.

Updated

Minutes after Vladimir Putin ended weeks of speculation by announcing a “special military operation” at dawn on Thursday, explosions were heard near major Ukrainian cities including the capital Kyiv.

CNN’s Matthew Chance was filmed reporting live from an airbase on the outskirts of Kyiv, where Russian airborne troops engaged in a firefight with the Ukrainian military.

Updated

Responding to the shadow chief whip’s letter to Labour MPs today (see 7.18pm), Andrew Scattergood, co-chair of Momentum, said: “These MPs’ steadfast commitment to the Ukrainian people and against Russia’s invasion is beyond question.

“Indeed, many of them have led the criticism of Putin’s act of aggression today, forcefully and without reservation.

“It beggars belief that the Labour leadership instead focuses on a week-old statement in an attempt to wage factional warfare against them, while a real war wages on against the Ukrainian people.”

Updated

The Russian people “don’t deserve” President Vladimir Putin as their leader, peers have heard.
Labour’s Lord Robertson of Port Ellen said: “I am sure I wasn’t the only one who woke up this morning to listen to the news who wasn’t reminded of that day, that similar day in 1968, when we woke up to hear the news that Soviet tanks had crushed out the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. The former Nato secretary-general added: “In May of 2002 when I chaired the Nato-Russia summit with President Putin as an equal member around that table I thought that finally I had exorcised the ghosts of 1968. I stood only hours later on a platform at the press conference standing beside President Putin when he said these words - ‘Ukraine is an independent sovereign nation state and it will choose its own path to peace and security’.

Now remarkably the same man says that Ukraine does not exist, it is a state that does not deserve to be a state, that it’s democracy will be crushed again.”

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians are fleeing or preparing to flee the country after Russian leader Vladimir Putin began an invasion.

Videos and photos on social media show lines of cars moving out of cities and heading west, as well as numbers of people on foot near the southern and western borders while reports of casualties mount.

Conservative former cabinet minister Robert Jenrick urged Johnson to place sanctions on all the remaining Russian banks as well as the executives associated with them.

He said: “Can I encourage my right honourable friend to sanction all the remaining Russian banks, to sanction the executives associated with them? I noticed that many are resigning today.

“To publish a further list of individuals resident in this country or otherwise to be sanctioned.

“And to redouble his excellent efforts to suspend Russia from Swift as the single most effective immediate step that the West could do to put pressure on Vladimir Putin.”

The PM responded that “the programme he set out, the sanctions, is exactly the right one and the one the government is following”.

Updated

Conservative MP Richard Drax (South Dorset) asked Boris Johnson to reassure Nato members that if a Russian boot lands on Nato soil “military force will be met by military force”, PA reports.

Johnson replied: “What is so encouraging is that the whole House understands the vital importance of that Article 5 guarantee that we make to every one of the 30 members of Nato.”

Military helicopters, apparently Russian, were filmed flying over the Dnieper River on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where they were met by Ukrainian counter-fire. An ambitious attack by helicopters on the Hostomel military airbase on the outskirts of Kyiv was also recorded.

Russian forces have attacked Ukraine by land, sea, and air on a massive scale, bringing to a calamitous end weeks of fruitless diplomatic efforts by western leaders to avert war

Updated

Labour MPs withdraw names from Stop the War open letter

Eleven Labour MPs who signed an open letter from the Stop The War Coalition that criticised Nato have now withdrawn their names.
The PA news agency understands they were threatened with the removal of the whip if their names were not taken off the letter. (see 6pm)

A Labour spokesperson said: “The small number of Labour MPs that signed the Stop The War statement have all now withdrawn their names.
“This shows Labour is under new management. “With Keir Starmer’s leadership there will never be any confusion about whose side Labour is on – Britain, Nato, freedom and democracy – and every Labour MP now understands that.”

Updated

Vladimir Putin must be brought to a court of law and end his days in prison, Labour MP Chris Bryant (Rhondda) said.

Bryant told the Commons: “The prime minister is absolutely right, we equivocated shamelessly after Crimea.

We were spineless. We must not be spineless now because what will inevitably happen is either the Baltic states, or one of the members of Nato, or perhaps Sweden or Finland will feel the wrath of Putin next and that will mean British action.”

Boris Johnson replied: “I think one of the most fascinating things about what Putin is doing is how close an analogy there is between his actions and those of Slobodan Milosevic.

“Exactly the same nonsense being peddled about the mystical union between Kosovo and Belgrade, between Kyiv and Moscow, exactly the same aggression and remember that Slobodan Milošević died on trial.”

Updated

The PM suggested Russia attacking a Nato country is an “appalling possibility” and said the UK would come to the defence of Nato allies if attacked.
Labour MP Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) welcomed the sanctions, but said “the record of driving out dictators and demagogues with sanctions isn’t always that successful”. He also said he has a “concern” that President Vladimir Putin “might not stop at Ukraine, he might go into a Nato country” and said “many of us think that might be the next step”. Boris Johnson said Sheerman was “absolutely right to raise that appalling possibility” and said “it is vital that we reaffirm again that under Article 5 of the Nato treaty we stand foursquare behind every one of our Nato allies and will come to their defence”.

Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle called the Russian government the “fascist imperialist Putin regime”, while the prime minister said he wants to keep embassy staff in Moscow.
Russell-Moyle said there are “protests in a number of Russian cities” and celebrities there have been speaking out, PA reports. “I do hope that we will be offering all the support that we can to those people who are likely to be shunned by the fascist imperialist Putin regime,” he said. Boris Johnson replied: “Yes.” He said one of the reasons he wants to keep embassy staff in Moscow “even though the temptation is there simply to sunder diplomatic relations with Putin, I want to keep them there to support groups such as the ones he mentions”.

Johnson: Putin may face war crimes charges

Boris Johnson has signalled that Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, could face war crimes charges over the invasion of Ukraine.
He told MPs “anyone who sends a Russian into battle to kill innocent Ukrainians” could be brought to court. The prime minister added the UK is working with allies to set up a “particular international war crimes tribunal for those involved in war crimes in the Ukraine theatre”. Speaking in the House of Commons, former United Nations commander Bob Stewart said he had given evidence for war crimes trials including where people were charged with genocide and crimes against humanity. The Conservative MP for Beckenham said: “Could I ask (Mr Johnson) and the House to agree with me that any Russian who kills a Ukrainian must remember that one day they may well be brought to court for crimes against humanity or genocide?” Johnson replied: “Yes, and not just any Russian combatant but anyone who sends a Russian into battle to kill innocent Ukrainians.”

Updated

A former head of the British army, Peter Wall, believes the west have been “complacent” over Russia and should have “realised the importance of deterrents”.
The former chief of the general staff was asked by Times Radio whether Nato had been complacent towards Putin in recent years.

Wall said: “I’m afraid I have to say I think we have, and I think that’s been called out today.
“And there are a number of us from my generation, who were very reluctant to see the reduction in UK forces that’s happened.

“As you know, our capabilities have haemorrhaged really since 2010.
“And I think that not only do we lack the resilience of capability that we would have liked, but actually the message we’ve been sending, subliminally, has been one of complacency and a failure to realise the importance of deterrents.” He also warned it “won’t be very long” until Russian troops overwhelm Kyiv.

Updated

Boris Johnson told the Commons that relatives of targets of sanctions will also be sanctioned.

Labour MP Kevan Jones (North Durham) asked for an assurance that “sanctions that are going to target individuals will also target relatives and connected parties”, PA reports.

He mentioned the Economic Crime Bill, the review of the Official Secrets Act, and the Foreign Registration Act, and asked “why can’t we bring them forward and do them now? They would get huge support and we’ve been waiting for some of these for nearly two years”.

Johnson said: “We will certainly be making sure that we are able to sanction and do sanction relatives and other interested parties, and there will be a rolling programme of intensifying sanctions.

Labour chair of the international development committee, Sarah Champion, pressed the prime minister on the prospect of a Russian invasion triggering a “significant refugee crisis in Europe”, PA reports.

The MP for Rotherham said: “Let us be under no illusion. We are on the brink of a potentially enormous humanitarian crisis that could see massive loss of life and widespread suffering to the Ukrainian people and all to suffer the warped desire complex of the Russian president.

The attack on Ukraine is also likely to cause mass displacement of people, potentially triggering a significant refugee crisis in Europe.

“So can the prime minister tell us what he is doing to support the Ukrainian people who stay and those who choose to flee?”

Johnson replied: “She makes a very important point and I’m grateful because the humanitarian impact threatens to be enormous and that’s why I’ve said what I’ve said about supporting those refugees as they come out of Ukraine.

“But we’ve got to make sure that we do everything we can to stabilise the Ukrainian economy, to support the government as far as we possibly can. Our friends and allies are working with us to do much more.”

Updated

According to Sienna Rodgers at LabourList, all the Labour MPs who signed the Stop the War anti-Nato statement have now withdrawn their names from it. They had been told they faced losing the whip if they didn’t. (See 6pm.)

That is all from me for today. My colleague Nadeem Badshah is now taking over.

Johnson plays down prospect of Nato imposing no-fly zone over Ukraine

Back in the Commons Peter Bone (Con) asks if the PM is keeping open the option of Nato imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine. He says he thinks that is what Johnson was saying in his earlier answer. (See 5.55pm.) He says this is what the Ukrainians are calling for. (See 4.47pm.)

Johnson says he is trying to keep all options open. But he says that some ideas are “more practical than others” and he says it is necessary to have a “dose of realism” about what can be done on the military front.

That’s an even stronger hint than he gave to Sir Iain Duncan Smith that he does not see this as a realistic option.

Gazprom and Rosneft should have been included on sanctions list, say Lib Dems

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader and a former energy secretary, has criticised the government for not including the energy companies Gazprom and Rosneft in the sanctions list. He said:

The absence of Gazprom and Rosneft, part-owned by BP, in today’s sanctions list is the elephant in the room. The UK must do everything we can to stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

Russia’s state-owned oil and gas giants stand to profit from this war and soaring prices. We must start treating Putin’s Russia like the rogue state it is and immediately cut off UK investment in these firms.

Ed Davey addressing the pro-Ukraine protest in Westminster today.
Ed Davey addressing the pro-Ukraine protest in Westminster today. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Foreign Office releases further details of sanctions package

The Foreign Office has now released a statement with more detail of the sanctions package unveiled by the PM.

This is what it says about the financial and trade measures being enacted. It says the government will:

Freeze the assets of all Russian banks including, today, a full asset freeze on VTB, Russia’s largest bank. Co-ordinated with the US this is by far the single biggest financial sanction in history. Individuals and companies whose assets are frozen will be unable to undertake any business in the UK or with UK nationals.

Prevent Russian companies from borrowing on the UK markets, effectively ending the ability of those companies closest to Putin to raise finance in the UK. This is in addition to banning the Russian state itself from raising funds in the UK, as previously announced.

Take a power to prevent designated banks from accessing Sterling and clearing payments through the UK. This will match the power the US already has. Banks subject to this measure will be unable to process any payments through the UK or have access to UK financial markets.

Ban the export of a range of high-end and critical technical equipment and components in sectors including electronics, telecommunications, and aerospace.

Aligned with the US, EU and other partners, these trade sanctions will constrain the development of Russian’s military-industrial and technological development for years to come.

This is what it says about some of the individuals who have sanctions placed on them.

Kirill Shamalov, Russia’s youngest billionaire and previously married to Putin’s daughter Katarina

Petr Fradkov, head of the recently sanctioned Promsvyazbank and son of the former head of Russian Foreign Intelligence (FSB). Promsvyazbank was designated on February 2022 and services 70% of state contracts by the Russian Defence Ministry.

Denis Bortnikov, deputy president of Russia’s largest bank VTB. Bortnikov is the son of Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) which was responsible for the poisoning of political activist Alexey Navalny in August 2020 with a banned chemical agent from the novichok group.

Yury Slyusar, director of United Aircraft Corporation, a major aircraft manufacturer for the Russian military.,

Elena Aleksandrovna Georgieva, chair of the board of Novikombank, a state-owned defence conglomerate.

These individuals, and others being sanctioned, will be unable to travel to the UK, and will have their assets in the UK frozen.

And this is what it says about the five major defence companies being sanctioned.

Rostec – Russia’s largest defence company. We now sanction the vast majority of the Russian defence sector. Rostec is a major arms exporter ($13bn military exports in 2020).

Uralvagonzavod - The world’s largest tank manufacturer, affiliated with Rostec, which makes more tanks than any other company on the globe.

Tactical Missile Corporation - A major supplier of air and seaborne missiles, which played a key role in rearming and upgrading Russian coastal defences including support to recent Russian military build-up.

United Aircraft Corporation - A holding company that includes all major Russian aircraft manufacturers, including MiG & Sukhoi. It supplies key Russian military aircraft used as part of Russia’s military build-up.

United Shipbuilding Corporation – The largest shipbuilding company in Russia. It constructed a number of the key Russian warships, including three Ivan Gren-Class Landing Ships that redeployed to the Black Sea earlier in February 2022.

In total 120 Russian oligarchs and businesses are being subject to sanctions.

Updated

Here is the full text of Boris Johnson’s statement to MPs explaining new new sanctions being imposed on Russia.

Russian airlines banned from British airspace, transport secretary confirms

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has confirmed that Russian airlines have been banned from entering British airspace or landing in this country.

Updated

Labour MPs told to withdraw names from anti-Nato Stop the War statement

According to the i’s Paul Waugh, the 11 Labour MPs who signed the anti-Nato Stop the War statement are being told to withdraw their names or face the loss of the party whip. The party has not confirmed this officially, although sources are not denying what Waugh has reported.

The text of the Stop the War statement is here. And here is an extract.

Our focus is on the policies of the British government which have poured oil on the fire throughout this episode. In taking this position we do not endorse the nature or conduct of either the Russian or Ukrainian regimes.

The British government has talked up the threat of war continually, to the point where the Ukraine government has asked it to stop.

Unlike the French and German governments, it has advanced no proposals for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, and has contributed only sabre-rattling ...

The British government has sent arms to Ukraine and deployed further troops to Eastern Europe, moves which serve no purpose other than inflaming tensions and indicating disdain for Russian concerns.

It has also declared that Ukraine has a “sovereign right” to join Nato, when no such right exists to join it or any other military alliance ...

We refute the idea that Nato is a defensive alliance, and believe its record in Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and Libya over the last generation, not to mention the US-British attack on Iraq, clearly proves otherwise.

And here is the list of MPs who have signed it: Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott, John McDonnell, Richard Burgon, Ian Lavery, Beth Winter; Zarah Sultana, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Apsana Begum, Mick Whitley, Tahir Ali, Claudia Webbe; and Ian Mearns.

They are all Labour MPs apart from Corbyn, who has had the whip suspended, and Webbe, who was expelled from the party following her conviction for harassment.

UPDATE: This is from ITV’s Anushka Asthana.

Updated

PM urges 'caution' over no-fly zone plan, saying it could mean Nato shooting down Russian planes

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, asks Johnson whether he will consider the case for getting Nato to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

Johnson says he “understands the attractions of a no-fly zone”, and remembers how one was imposed over northern Iraq in 1991. But he says that imposing one over Ukraine could mean “we would face the risk of having to shoot down Russian planes” and that is something MPs “would want to contemplate with caution”.

Updated

David Davis (Con) asks Johnson is those Russians subject to sanctions will face criminal action if they travel abroad. Johnson confirms that that is what will happen.

What is most interesting, though, about Davis’s intervention is that he chose not to make the case for the UK providing air support for the Ukrainian army. Davis proposed this on Twitter this morning (see 10.40am), but perhaps he did not argue for it this afternoon because he has concluded that it has no realistic chance of being adopted.

Back in the Commons Clive Lewis (Lab) asks the PM if he agrees that there should be a negotiated solution to the conflict, not a military solution.

Johnson says Putin had the chance for a negotiated solution and did not take it. He says that puts the world on a “very, very different course”.

Alex Salmond cancels show on pro-Kremlin RT TV

Alex Salmond has cancelled his controversial chat show on the Kremlin-funded channel RT after facing intense political and public pressure to do so following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The former first minister of Scotland came under heavy attack yesterday after Vladimir Putin announced Russia had formally recognised two breakaway provinces in eastern Ukraine, as a prelude to Thursday’s morning military assaults across the country.

Salmond said his firm Slàinte Media, run with another former SNP MP, Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, would be suspended until further notice. The latest edition of the Alex Salmond Show was screened by RT on Thursday morning, hours after Russia attacked Ukrainian cities, and remains online.

Salmond said:

We now have the worst of all fears – a hot war in Europe. The efforts of every single person should be to re-establish the peace. That certainly is our focus, and therefore Slàinte Media have decided to suspend the Alex Salmond Show until that can be secured.

There is no productive point in having the future of a television show dominate prime minister’s questions as it did yesterday, when politicians should be rising to the occasion of the great issues of peace in Europe.

Salmond also accused his critics of hypocrisy, claiming the controversy had seen Ahmed-Sheikh subjected to “a crescendo of personal abuse and harassment” which led her to fear for her safety. He insisted his show was entirely free of Russian influence. “They have kept entirely to their commitments on this in line with the Ofcom code,” he said.

Updated

In the Commons, in response to a question from Julian Lewis (Con), Johnson suggested Britain would be willing to give sanctuary to a Ukrainian government in exile. Lewis said that Britain had hosted government-in-exile from the Baltic states under Soviet occupation. Would the UK does this again?

Johnson said Britain was willing to offer Ukraine the support it needed, and he said that when he spoke to President Zelenskiy this morning he spoke to him about how it might be necessary for him to find a safe space.

Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, said in his response to the PM that Putin should pay a “massive price” for the invasion. He said:

What we are witnessing is a full-scale invasion, it is an act of war.

This is first and foremost an unprovoked attack on the peace and innocence of Ukraine and its people.

But it is equally an attack on international law, an attack on European democracy and an attack on the peace our continent so carefully built over the last 75 years.

President Putin - and President Putin alone - bears responsibility for these horrific acts.

And it is he, and his Kremlin cabal, who must now pay a massive price for their actions.

It is important to say to the Russian people that we know Putin is not acting in their name.

He is a dictator, he is an imperialist, he is a tyrant.

He is as much a threat to his own people, as he is to us all.

Back in the Commons Theresa May, the former PM, said that Putin had turned his country into a pariah state and that Russia should be made to feel “the cold wind of isolation”.

In his statement to MPs Boris Johnson said he would be discussing with allies the case for excluding Russia from the Swift international payments system. (See 4.03pm.)

My colleague Jessica Elgot says that at this stage Johnson is not optimistic about getting his allies to support the proposal.

In his response to Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer echoed many of the points he made in his TV address earlier. (See 2.54pm.) Here is an extract from his Commons statement.

The consequences of Putin’s actions will be felt throughout the world. For years and I fear decades to come.

Russia’s democratic neighbours and every other democracy that lives in the shadow of autocratic power are watching their worst nightmare unfold.

So all those who believe in democracy, over dictatorship, in the rule of law, over the reign of terror, in freedom, over the jackboot of tyranny, must unite and take a stand.

We must support the Ukrainian people in their fight and we must ensure Putin fails.

Putin will eventually learn the same lesson that Europe’s tyrants learnt in the last century: that the resolve of the world is harder than he imagines, that people’s desire for freedom burns brighter than he can ever extinguish, that the light of liberty will prevail over his darkness.

Updated

Johnson unveils 'largest ever' set of sanctions against Russia - details

The UK will impose its “largest ever” set of economic sanctions on Russia, including pushing to end Russia’s use of the Swift international payment system, freezing assets of all major Russian banks, limiting cash held by Russian nationals in UK banks and placing sanctions on more than 100 individuals and entities.

Boris Johnson has urged European leaders to agree that Russia’s use of the major payments system should be suspended, making the argument in a call with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and in a meeting of G7 leaders. The move is likely to be resisted by EU countries.

Announcing a package of sanctions which Johnson had promised would “hobble” Russia’s economy, the UK said it would said legislation would be laid on Tuesday to ban major Russian companies from raising finance on UK markets and to prevent Russia raising sovereign debt on UK markets.

The sanctions include more key oligarchs who will have assets frozen, though sources said that more names – including what they said would be more recognisable figures – would be released in the coming weeks.

The prime minister announced 10 measures the UK was taking immediately. The UK will freeze assets of all major Russian banks including VTB, the country’s second largest bank with assets totalling £154bn.

Individual sanctions will be imposed on over 100 individuals, entities and subsidiaries, including Rostec, the country’s biggest defence company, employing more than two million people and exporting £10bn in arms a year, as well as four other defence companies.

Oligarchs who will face sanctions include Putin’s former son-in-law Kirill Shamalov, Russia’s youngest billionaire, Denis Bortnikov, deputy president and chairman of the state-run VTB Bank’s management board, Yury Slyusar, director of the United Aircraft Corporation. The Russian airline Aeroflot will be banned from landing in the UK.

The UK will suspend and prohibit all dual-use export licences to Russia, which covers items that could have civilian or military use. There will also be legislation to prohibit a wide range of hi-tech exports to Russia, including semi-conductors, aircraft parts such as Rolls Royce jet engines, and oil refinery equipment.

No 10 said it would set out more detail in the coming days about new legislation to limit the deposits that all Russian nationals can hold in UK bank accounts, intended to choke off the ability of Russians to raise finance and keep their money in London.

No 10 also said it would extend a full range of measures to Belarus, which Russian forces have used to invade Ukraine, treating the country as subject to same sanctions regime as Russia. The final measure was a pledge to bring forward the Economic Crime bill, before Easter recess, aimed at making assets more transparent.

Updated

Johnson says Russian stocks are down by as much as 45% today. And the rouble has hit new lows against the dollar, he says.

He says the UK will counter the Russian disinformation.

He says he has called a meeting of Nato leaders that is taking place tomorrow.

And he ends with a message to the Russian and Ukrainian people.

I say to the people of Russia again, whose president has just authorised an onslaught against a fellow Slavic people, I cannot believe that this horror is being done in your name, or that you really want the pariah status that these actions will bring to the Putin regime.

And to our Ukrainian friends, in this moment of agony, I say that we are with you and we are on your side. Your right to choose your own destiny is a right that the United Kingdom and our allies will always defend.

Johnson says the UK is announcing the largest package of sanctions that Russia has ever seen.

A full asset freeze is being imposed on VBT, Russia’s second largest bank.

Russian banks will be excluded from the UK financial system, he says.

Russsian state and private companies will be banned from raising money in the UK.

The amount of money Russians can have in British bank accounts will be limited.

Sanctions will apply to Belarus too, Johnson says.

He says Aeroflot will be banned in the UK.

Export controls will be implemented, similar to the ones imposed by the US. (That means a ban on items like semiconductor and other hi-tech equipment.)

There will also be a ban on the export of dual-use items to Russia. (That means equipment that could be used militarily.)

Legislation to enforce some of these sanctions will be laid in parliament next week, he says.

These trade sanctions will constrain Russia’s military, industrial and technological capabilities for years to come.

Johnson also says he is discussing with allies the possibility of excluding Russia from the Swift international payments system.

Updated

Johnson says Putin is 'bloodstained aggressor who believes in imperial conquest'

Johnson says President Putin will stand condemned by history.

Putin will stand condemned in the eyes of the world and the history. He will never be able to cleanse the blood of Ukraine from his hands and although the UK and our allies tried every avenue for diplomacy until the final [moment], I’m driven to conclude the Putin was always determined to attack his neighbour, no matter what we did.

Now we see him for what he is - a bloodstained aggressor, who believes in imperial conquest.

Johnson tells MPs Ukrainians are putting up 'fierce defence' of their country

Boris Johnson starts by saying he has just come from a G7 meeting, which was also attended by the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg.

He says the Ukrainians are offering a “fierce defence” of their country.

Johnson to make statement to MPs on sanctions being imposed against Russia after invasion of Ukraine

Boris Johnson is about to make a statement to MPs about the Russian invastion of Ukraine. He is expected to focus on the beefed-up sanctions being imposed by the UK in response.

Some sanctions were imposed on Tuesday, but those were very limited, and at the time Johnson insisted that more would follow in the event of President Putin launching a full-scale invasion.

Ukrainians in London today demonstrating against the invasion of their country by Russia.
Ukrainians in London today demonstrating against the invasion of their country by Russia. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Russian invasion explains why Ukraine trying to join Nato, says Ukrainian ambassador to UK

Vadym Prystaiko, the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, has called for a no-fly zone to be put in place over his country. Speaking to journalists, he said the country wanted “something which only Nato can provide” and that was a no-fly zone over the country.

As PA Media reports, Prystaiko also said anti-tank weapons supplied by the UK had been used against Russian tanks today as he called on Nato to send troops into Ukraine. He said “we should have started much earlier, maybe decades ago” to prepare for Russian aggression. He went on:

That’s why we’ve been trying to get into Nato [for] all these years. Because we always believed this would come.

Vadym Prystaiko speaking to the media at the Ukrainian embassy in west London.
Vadym Prystaiko speaking to the media at the Ukrainian embassy in west London. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

The Ministry of Defence has delivered an update on developments in Ukraine.

The MoD has also called in the Russian military attache to express the government’s opposition to the invasion.

Updated

Here is the text of the statement issued by G7 leaders after their virtual meeting this afternoon. The G7 countries are: the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan.

From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg

PM trying to persuade G7 to back Russia's removal from Swift payments system, say sources

According to a report in the Financial Times, Boris Johnson is pushing for Russia to be excluded from the Swift international payments system – a key Ukrainian demand, see 3.52pm – but meeting resistance from other countries, and particularly the EU. The FT (paywall) says:

Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, is pushing “very hard” for Russia to be ejected from the Swift international payments system, a move that would deliver a heavy blow to the country’s banks and its ability to trade beyond its borders.

However, Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, warned Johnson on Thursday that his country would not support such a dramatic move and neither would the EU, according to officials close to sanctions negotiations. A German official declined to comment, saying only that “all options are still on the table”.

My colleague Jessica Elgot says No 10 sources are confirming that Johnson pushed for Russia to be excluded from Swift in the virtual G7 leaders’ meeting that has been taking place this afternoon.

As is often the case, the No 10 readout of the Johnson/Scholz call earlier makes a lot more once sense the context has been explained. This is what a No 10 spokesperson said about the exchange.

The prime minister said that President Putin must fail and achieving that will require the western world to isolate him both politically and economically.

The prime minister welcomed Germany’s decision to suspend the Nord Stream 2 pipeline but said that allies must now make a concerted effort to bring the strongest possible sanctions to bear on the Putin regime.

The prime minister underscored that western inaction or underreaction would have unthinkable consequences. The leaders agreed to stay in close contact and to discuss our response further in this afternoon’s meeting of G7 leaders.

Updated

The Ukrainian embassy in London has produced a list of sanctions that it wants the UK and other countries to impose on Russia, ITV’s Shebab Khan reports.

Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, has been reinforcing one of these points on Twitter.

Sunak criticises Tories who think tax cuts pay for themselves

In his Mais lecture Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, argued that Britain has to have a strong economy to be able to defend its values around the world. He said:

Hope and opportunity should not just be the preserve of the citizens of the United Kingdom.

As the situation develops in Ukraine, this moment reveals something about the UK’s global role.

The basis of our influence in the world and ability to be a force for good is going to be in large part based on the strength of our economy.

That economic strength gives us the resources to both invest more in defence and come to the aid of countries that need our assistance.

It gives us the ability to increase the security of our energy supply, it gives us the diplomatic power to shape the rules of the international order, and when countries breach those rules: the weight to impose meaningful sanctions.

No nation has the right to lead, to a seat at the top table. It must be earned.

The full text of the speech is here. As my colleague Phillip Inman reports, Sunak was using his speech to stress his commitment to low taxes. But he also took a swipe at the “Laffer curve” Tories who argue that tax cuts frequently pay for themselves because they lead to the Treasury collecting more in revenue. (It is almost always Tories who make this argument, which is particularly popular with the rightwing commentariat.) Sunak said:

I firmly believe in lower taxes. The most powerful case for the dynamic market economy is that it brings economic freedom and prosperity. And the best expression of that freedom is for all of us to be able to make decisions about how to save, invest or use the money we earn. The marginal pound our country produces is far better spent by individuals and businesses than government.

So I am disheartened when I hear the flippant claim that ‘tax cuts always pay for themselves’. They do not. Cutting tax sustainably requires hard work, prioritisation, and the willingness to make difficult and often unpopular arguments elsewhere. And it is hard to cut taxes at a time when demands on the state are growing.

Rishi Sunak.
Rishi Sunak. Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

Pro-Ukraine demonstrators in London today.
Pro-Ukraine demonstrators in London today. Photograph: David Cliff/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

A fiery meeting between the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, and Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, broke down after just a matter of minutes, the Guardian has been told.

After Kelin was summoned to Whitehall in light of the invasion of Ukraine, a Foreign Office source said he had “spouted the usual propaganda” but that Truss was “having none of it”.

The exchange was heated and sharp, the source said, with Truss telling Kelin he “should be ashamed of himself” and insisting that the rest of the world would “rally around Ukraine”, while Russia had turned itself into “an international pariah”.

“Liz ended the meeting early and kicked him out,” the source added.

Truss will spend the rest of the day speaking to other countries’ foreign ministers.

Updated

Men will gain on average and women lose from changes to student loan repayment rules, says IFS

If it had not been for the invasion of Ukraine, today’s political news would have been dominated by the changes to post-18 education announced today. As Sally Weale reports in her preview, the government is asking students to start paying off student debt earlier (when their salaries reach a lower threshold) and for longer (remaining debts will be written off after 40 years, not 30 years as now). The official Department for Education news release about the plans is here. The DfE has also released two consultation documents: on access to university, to discourage students from taking poor quality courses that will bring them little benefit; and on plans for a lifelong loan entitlement, to pay for retraining.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has published an analysis of the impact of the new student loan repayment rules. It says that students who go on to become high earners will gain from the changes while students who become low earners will lose, and that men will gain from the changes on average, while women will lose. It says:

As a percentage of lifetime earnings, the reform affects borrowers with lower middling earnings the most (yellow line). For them, the reform translates into a lifetime earnings loss of more than 1%, or more than a penny in each pound they will ever earn. However, these lower middling earners will still pay back around £9,000 less on average than the highest earners, so their student loans will still be subsidised by the taxpayer. Their losses relative to the current system arise because the taxpayer subsidy for these graduates will be substantially smaller under the new system than it is under the current system.

The reform package also entails substantial redistribution across genders: men stand to gain on average, whereas women are set to lose. On average, men will repay around £5,500 less towards their student loans under the new system, whereas women will pay £6,600 more. This is because women tend to spend more time out of work than men and on average earn less than men even when in work. As a result, men are much more likely to pay off their loans and benefit from lower interest rates.

IFS analysis of impact of changes to student loan repayment rules
IFS analysis of impact of changes to student loan repayment rules Photograph: IFS

Updated

UK increasing its air policing contribution to Nato, No 10 says

Downing Street has said the UK is increasing its “air policing contribution” to Nato. The PM’s spokesman said:

We are increasing our air policing contribution to Nato from RAF Akrotiri and the UK to help protect our Nato allies. So, two typhoons and a voyager for refuelling from the UK will support continuous Nato air policing over Poland’s border with Ukraine ... two typhoons and a voyager for refuelling from Akrotiri [will] also support continuous Nato air policing over Romania’s border with Ukraine.

So, this is a defensive capability designed to protect the airspace of our Nato allies ... they will not operate in Ukrainian or Russian airspace.

Just to emphasise, this isn’t additional air support, this is the air support already committed to Nato doing additional activities.

Starmer says invasion will mean 'economic pain' for Britons - but Putin must be defeated

In his own televised address Keir Starmer has called for an entirely new approach to dealing with President Putin following his invasion of Ukraine. Starmer said:

We must make a clean break with the failed approach to handling Putin, which after Georgia, Crimea and Donbas fed his belief that the benefits of aggression outweigh the cost. We must finally show him he is wrong.

That means doing all we can to help Ukraine defend herself, urgently reinforcing and reassuring our Nato allies in eastern Europe and the hardest possible sanctions must be taken against the Putin regime. It must be isolated, its finances frozen, its ability to function crippled ...

This must be a turning point in our history. We must look back and say that this terrible day was actually when Putin doomed himself to defeat.

He seeks division, so we must stay united. He hopes for inaction, so we must take a stand. He believes that we are too corrupted to do the right thing, so we must prove him wrong. I believe we can, but only if we stand together.

Unlike Boris Johnson in his TV address (see 1.03pm), Starmer also insisted that the war would create “economic pain” for people in Britain. He said:

We must prepare ourselves for difficulties here. We will see economic pain as we free Europe from dependence on Russian gas and clean our institutions from money stolen from the Russian people. But the British public have always been willing to make sacrifice to defend democracy on our continent and we will again.

Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner leaving the Cabinet Office, after a briefing from officials about Ukraine.
Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner leaving the Cabinet Office, after a briefing from officials about Ukraine.
 Photograph: DW Images/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

Boris Johnson has today spoken to Jonas Støre, the Norwegian prime minister, and Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor. According to No 10, Johnson told Støre that “the full and violent invasion of Ukraine we have witnessed signalled a dark time for Europe and a disaster for the world”. And in his call with Scholz Johnson described the invasion as “the most horrific act of aggression in his political lifetime”.

In both calls Johnson and his counterparts also stressed the need for a coordinated approach to imposing strong sanctions on Russia.

Updated

Western officials believe Russian ground forces could attack Kyiv with indiscriminate force. Kyiv has been a central part of the Russian planning process and must be taken if the Kremlin is to achieve its objectives, they say.

With Ukrainian resistance, it may well be that Russia has to put troops into the city in order to be able to take the city, according to this assessment. If that is the case, then we can expect that to be a particularly difficult and challenging environment both for those that are defending and potentially for those that are attempting to assault the city as well.

Officials are particularly concerned about Russia’s ability to use overwhelming firepower, including in built-up areas, which it has shown that it is willing to do in order to achieve its objectives. They believe it could mean a large number of civilian casualties with an indiscriminate use of military force, which has been seen in previous conflicts.

Russian forces in Belarus are equipped with a very large number of support helicopters - a separate guards land airborne division - and they were specifically designed in order to conduct those sorts of heliwar assault activities, officials say.

They also point out that Russia has a marked advantage given its precision munitions, its airforce and its artillery. There are significant numbers of troops on the border which have not yet moved into Ukraine. And the Russian armed forces have been active in military operations very recently, in Georgia, in Ukraine in 2014 and in Syria, meaning they are battle-hardened.

Cyber attacks took place last night, aimed at Ukrainian financial institutions and some other elements of Ukrainian government, the officials say.

They believe that President Putin may meet more resistance both in Ukraine and within government than he has anticipated, and that there are significant people within the Russian establishment who think this is a mistake.

Updated

People waving Ukrainian flags during a demonstration in support of Ukraine in Whitehall today.
People waving Ukrainian flags during a demonstration in support of Ukraine in Whitehall today.
Photograph: Alberto Pezzali/AP

Roman Abramovich should have assets in UK seized, MPs told

Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch and Chelsea FC owner, should have his assets in the UK seized, MPs have been told.

Speaking during business questions in the Commons, the Labour MP Chris Bryant said:

I have got hold of a leaked document from 2019 from the Home Office which says in relation to Mr Abramovich - ‘As part of HMG’s Russia strategy aimed at targeting illicit finance and malign activity, Abramovich remains of interest to HMG due to his links to the Russian state and his public association with corrupt activity and practices. An example of this is Abramovich admitting in court proceedings that he paid for political influence. Therefore HMG is focused on ensuring individuals linked to illicit finance and malign activity are unable to base themselves in the UK and will use the relevant tools at its disposal, including immigration powers to prevent this.’

That is nearly three years ago and yet remarkably little has been done in relation. Surely Mr Abramovich should no longer be able to own a football club in this country? Surely we should be looking at seizing some of his assets including his £152m home? And making sure that other people who have had tier 1 visas like this are not engaged in malign activity?

In reply Mark Spencer, the leader of the Commons, said that the government would be taking “very strong action against high-profile Russian individuals who are of concern” and Bryant could raise his concerns directly with the home secretary during Home Office questions in the Commons next week.

Yesterday Boris Johnson published a clarification admitted that he was wrong to tell the Commons on Tuesday that Abramovich was already subjec to sanctions.

Asked about Bryant’s claims, the PM’s spokesman told journalists at the lobby briefing: “I couldn’t comment on individuals in that way or on leaked documents of that type.”

Chris Bryant in the Commons this morning
Chris Bryant in the Commons this morning. Photograph: HoC

Updated

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesman was asked what Boris Johnson meant in his speech earlier when he talked about President Putin being defeated “militarily”. Johnson said:

Our mission is clear. Diplomatically, politically, economically, and eventually militarily, this hideous and barbaric venture of Vladimir Putin must end in failure.

Asked was what meant by “militarily” in this context, the spokesman said:

He’s making the point that ... Our expectation is that the Ukrainian people will fight, will engage with Russian forces ... We are providing military, defensive military capability.

Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, has become the latest person in the party to criticise Vince Cable, the former party leader, for giving an interview to RT, the pro-Kremlin Russian news channel. (See 11.56am.) Cole-Hamilton said:

Vince Cable is a private citizen and no longer a Lib Dem parliamentarian, but his appearance on Salmond’s RT show this morning was entirely wrong. So too is Salmond’s continued association with this agent of a hostile power. No elected Scottish Liberal Democrat will appear on RT.

Cable’s appearance is particularly embarrassing for the Lib Dems because Cole-Hamilton had called for Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister, to be expelled from the privy council because he hosts a show on RT.

Cable appeared to promote his book Money & Power, but also to discuss speculation about a future Labour-Lib Dem pact at Westminster. In a statement Cable said he had “nothing to do” with the Ukraine crisis but said he had urged RT to take his interview off air given Russia’s invasion.

Updated

Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, has said the new sanctions being imposed on Russia will be “significant”. Delivering the Mais lecture in London, he said:

The whole world is rightly appalled at Russia’s aggression.

When the freedom of one democratic nation is threatened, wherever they may be in the world, democracy everywhere is challenged.

We must apply severe economic costs to these actions and you can expect significant further sanctions to be brought forward.

The Ministry of Defence in the UK has issued this update on what is happening in Ukraine.

Nigel Farage, the former Ukip and Brexit party leader, was telling viewers on his GB News show earlier this month that he thought Vladmir Putin did not want to invade Ukraine. Now Farage says that he is wrong - although he is still blaming the EU.

Nicola Sturgeon has led unanimous condemnation by Scotland’s political leaders of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the first minister calling for severe consequences against Vladimir Putin through sweeping sanctions and a crack-down on dirty money in the City of London.

“I wanted to condemn in the strongest possible terms the unprovoked imperialist aggression of Vladimir Putin,” she told MSPs in a statement before first minister’s questions. “We must all stand ready to offer refuge and sanctuary where necessary for those who may be displaced.”

Her remarks were endorsed by Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, Anas Sarwar, leader of Scottish Labour, Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Greens and a junior minister, and Alex Cole-Hamilton, of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. The world was now a “far darker and more unstable place”, Ross said.

Sarwar said Russia’s “unprovoked and unjustifiable” attack on Ukraine had to be resisted. “Peace and democracy must prevail and we will not bend to Vladimir Putin’s imperial ambitions.” Urgent humanitarian support for Ukraine was vital, as was military support for the UK’s Nato allies, he said.

Updated

4 takeaways from Johnson's TV address to nation about invasion of Ukraine

Boris Johnson used his TV address to the nation to eloquently express his outrage at the invasion of Ukraine, and his faith that in time democracy and freedom will prevail. “I don’t believe that the Russian dictator will ever subdue the national feeling of the Ukrainians and their passionate belief that their country should be free,” he said, in Churchillian tones. It is what you would expect, and these are words that almost all British politicians would endorse.

But was there anything else we gleaned from his comments? Here are takeaways.

1) Johnson has committed himself to the defeat of President Putin. “This hideous and barbaric venture of Vladimir Putin must end in failure,” he said. This sounds like rhetoric, but it is an important policy objective.

2) But Johnson also implied that he expected the defeat of Putin to take a long time. There were a couple of points in the speech where he made this apparent.

Diplomatically, politically, economically – and eventually, militarily – this hideous and barbaric venture of Vladimir Putin must end in failure ...

We will work with them – for however long it takes – to ensure that the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine is restored.

He seemed to be implying that it could take years, rather than weeks, for this to be resolved.

3) Johnson seems to have no intention of letting the UK response go beyond sanctions. The new measures would “hobble the Russian economy”, he said. But that won’t necessarily bring down President Putin (sanctions were applied against Iraq for more than a decade without leading to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein) and Johnson did not say they would. This helps to explain why he implied the crisis would not be over soon. Although he set the defeat of Putin as an end, he did not say clearly how this would be achieved - beyond hinting that it was up to the Ukrainians to see off the Russians. Johnson did not refer to British military intervention, but there was nothing in what he said to suggest that he is minded to back the ideas promoted by some of his MPs. (See 10.40am and 11.41am.)

4) Johnson was not willing acknowledge the negative impact the war is likely to have on people in Britain. This morning Tom Tugendhat, the Tory chair of the foreign affairs committee, said costs for consumers in this country would go up. (See 9.27am.) Even though the UK only gets a tiny proportion of its gas from Russia, sanctions are likely to lead to gas supplies to Europe being reduced, and it is hard to see how this would not have a knock-on effect on prices for the UK. As Tugendhat argued, the supply of other goods is likely to be affected too. But rather than acknowledge that Britons will pay a cost, Johnson just said: “We will of course do everything to keep our country safe.”

Boris Johnson delivering his address to the nation.
Boris Johnson delivering his address to the nation. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/PA

Updated

Full text of Johnson's TV address to nation after Russian invasion of Ukraine

Here is the full text of Boris Johnson’s TV statement.

Shortly after 4 o’ clock this morning I spoke to President Zelenskiy of Ukraine to offer the continued support of the UK because our worst fears have now come true and all our warnings have proved tragically accurate.

President Putin of Russia has unleashed war in our European continent. He has attacked a friendly country without any provocation and without any credible excuse. Innumerable missiles and bombs have been raining down on an entirely innocent population A vast invasion is under way by land by sea and by air.

And this is not, in the infamous phrase, some faraway country of which we know little. We have Ukrainian friends in this country; neighbours, co-workers.

Ukraine is a country that for decades has enjoyed freedom and democracy and the right to choose its own destiny.

We – and the world – cannot allow that freedom just to be snuffed out. We cannot, and will not, just look away. It is because we have been so alarmed in recent months at the Russian intimidation that the UK became one of the first countries in Europe to send defensive weaponry to help the Ukrainians. Other allies have now done the same and we will do what more we can in the days ahead.

Today, in concert with our allies, we will agree a massive package of economic sanctions designed in time to hobble the Russian economy.

And to that end we must also collectively cease the dependence on Russian oil and gas that for too long has given Putin his grip on western politics.

Our mission is clear. Diplomatically, politically, economically – and eventually, militarily – this hideous and barbaric venture of Vladimir Putin must end in failure.

And so I say to the people of Russia, whose president has just authorised a tidal wave of violence against a fellow Slavic people, the parents of Russian soldiers who will lose their lives. I cannot believe this is being done in your name or that you really want the pariah status it will bring to the Putin regime.

And I say to the Ukrainians – in this moment of agony we are with you we are praying for you and your families and we are on your side.

And if the months ahead are grim, and the flame of freedom burns low, I know that it will blaze bright again in Ukraine because, for all his bombs and tanks and missiles, I don’t believe that the Russian dictator will ever subdue the national feeling of the Ukrainians and their passionate belief that their country should be free.

And I say to the British people, and all who have heard the threats from Putin against those who stand with Ukraine, we will of course do everything to keep our country safe.

We are joined in our outrage by friends and allies around the world. We will work with them – for however long it takes – to ensure that the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine is restored because this act of wanton and reckless aggression is an attack not just on Ukraine. It is an attack on democracy and freedom in east Europe and around the world. This crisis is about the right of a free, sovereign independent European people to choose their own future and that is a right that the UK will always defend.

People in a pub near Euston in London watching Boris Johnson’s address to the nation.
People in a pub near Euston in London watching Boris Johnson’s address to the nation. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

Updated

Johnson says UK and its allies will use 'massive package of sanctions' to 'hobble Russian economy'

Johnson says the UK will respond with “a massive package of sanctions” that will “hobble the Russian economy”.

Ukraine is a country that for decades has enjoyed freedom and democracy and the right to choose its own destiny. We and the world cannot allow that freedom just to be snuffed out. We cannot and will not just look away ...

Today, in concert with our allies, we will agree a massive package of economic sanctions designed in time to hobble the Russian economy.

And to that end, we must also collectively cease the dependence on Russian oil and gas that for too long has given Putin his grip on western politics.

Our mission is clear; diplomatically politically, economically, and eventually, military, this hideous and barbaric venture of Vladimir Putin must end in failure.

Updated

Boris Johnson is speaking now.

He says he spoke to the President of Ukraine shortly after 4am. “All our warnings have proved tragically accurate,” he says.

President Putin of Russia has unleashed war in our European continent. He’s attacked a friendly country without any provocation, and without any credible excuse. Innumerable missiles and bombs have been raining down on an entirely innocent population ...

A vast invasion is underway, by land, by sea or by air and this is not, in the infamous phrase, some faraway country of which we know nothing.

We have Ukrainian friends in this country, neighbours, co-workers. Ukraine is a country that for decades has enjoyed freedom and democracy, and the right to choose its own destiny.

We and the world cannot allow that freedom just to be snuffed out. We cannot and will not just look away.

Vince Cable has been condemned by the Liberal Democrats for appearing on the Russian TV station RT on Thursday, the morning that Russia fully invaded Ukraine.

The former Lib Dem leader and ex-business secretary appeared on the RT show hosted by another UK former politician, the ex-SNP leader Alex Salmond.

A Lib Dem spokesperson said:

Vince has many views which the party has always valued, but appearing on RT is wrong. As a leader his strong criticism of the Salisbury incident and Russian oligarchs here are on the record.

Cable said the interview with Salmond had been recorded the previous day and was not connected to Ukraine, and that “with hindsight” he should not have done it.

Updated

Johnson to address nation on Russian invasion of Ukraine

Johnson is due to deliver a televised statement from No 10 about the Russian invasion of Ukraine at noon.

He has already said he is “appalled” by what is happening and his skills as a wordsmith are likely to be on full display as he expands on why he feels this is such a calamitous moment for Europe. He is also expected to confirm that the UK will respond with “overwhelming sanctions” (see 9.48am), but the details are not expected to come until this afternoon.

The Conservative MP Stephen Hammond has said that the UK should work with Nato allies to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine to help the country defend itself against the Russians.

This is an idea that has also been proposed by Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative chair of the Commons defence committee. (See 10.40am.)

Ellwood and David Davis (who is proposing an alternative form of military intervention by the UK - air support to the Ukrainian army) both have a military background (Davis as a reservist, Ellwood as a regular soldier) and both have long been seen as vocal hawks in the Conservative party on military matters. What is interesting about Hammond’s intervention is that he has never been identified as a member of that contingent. Perhaps it’s a sign that Tory support for some form of military intervention might extend more widely than expected.

Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, has described the invasion of Ukraine as “an act of great evil” in a joint statement with Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York.

Updated

Priti Patel, the home secretary, has said the government is preparing to counter possible cyber attacks from Russia in the light of the invasion of Ukraine.

Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, leaving No 10 this morning after the emergency Cobra committee held to discuss the invasion of Ukraine.
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, leaving No 10 this morning after the emergency Cobra committee held to discuss the invasion of Ukraine. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Flights between the UK and Ukraine have been suspended as the crisis in the eastern European country intensifies, PA Media reports. PA says:

Ukraine closed its airspace in the early hours of Thursday morning after Russia launched a major military assault.

The UK Foreign Office updated its travel advice to warn that British nationals in Ukraine “should not expect increased consular support or help with evacuating”.

Wizz Air cancelled its flights between Luton airport and the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Lviv on Thursday.

Ryanair and Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) – the other carriers that fly between the UK and Ukraine – also suspended those routes.

Images from the aviation website Flightradar24 show there are no civilian aircraft in Ukrainian airspace and very few over neighbouring Belarus, where many Russian troops are positioned.

Updated

Boris Johnson will call the invasion of Ukraine “a catastrophe for the continent” when he addresses the nation at noon, ITV’s Anushka Asthana reports.

Boris Johnson has confirmed that he will be making an address to the nation this morning about the invasion of Ukraine.

Updated

Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, says the Russian ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office and that the UK will be imposing “severe sanctions”.

Keir Starmer says he met Vadym Prystaiko, the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, this morning to offer his support.

Senior Tory David Davis says UK should provide air support to Ukrainian army

David Davis, the Conservative former Brexit secretary (and a former SAS reservist), has said that retaliating against Russia with sanctions will not be enough and that, in order to prevent Ukraine being defeated, the UK should “provide air support to the Ukrainian army”.

That would effectively mean the RAF bombing, or threatening to bomb, Russian military positions.

Davis has explained his case on Twitter.

This is almost certainly a minority view in the Conservative party, and in the Commons as a whole, but Davis is not the first Tory to propose a military response. On Tuesday Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the defence committee, told Boris Johnson in the Commons that he would like to see Nato establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Ellwood said:

We must now consider how we utilise our formidable hard-power deterrence in responding to Ukraine’s calls for further help, not excluding the formation of a potential no-fly zone.

That would potentially involve the RAF shooting down, or threatening to shoot down, Russian planes.

David Davis.
David Davis. Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP

Updated

Back in the Commons Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, has just asked Steve Barclay, the PM’s chief of staff, about reports that Russian oligarchs have been lobbying the Foreign Office to ensure they are not covered by sanctions. She asked him for an assurance that none of these people were people who have donated to the Conservative party.

Barclay would not answer directly. He said that people who were allowed to vote in the UK can donate to political parties, and he said it was important to remember that the donors Rayner was referring to were British citizens.

Updated

General Sir Richard Shirreff, the former British officer who was Nato’s deputy supreme allied commander, told the Today programme this morning the possibility of the war in Ukraine leading to military conflict between Britain and Russia could not be ruled out. Asked if this was possible, he replied:

Absolutely there is a possibility that we as a nation could be at war with Russia, because if Russia puts one bootstep across Nato territory, we are all at war with Russia. Every single one, every single member of the Nato alliance.

Article 5 [of the Nato alliance] says an attack on one is an attack on all, so we need to change our mindset fundamentally, and that is why I say our defence starts in the UK on the frontiers of Nato.

Shirreff has been warning about this for years, and published a book in 2016 anticipating how war with Russia might start.

Initial sanctions failed as deterrent because Putin acting 'in isolation and illogically', says minister

James Cleverly, the Foreign Office minister, told the Today programme this morning that the initial sanctions announced by the UK failed to act as a deterrent because President Putin is acting illogically and not taking advice. He said:

What became evident in the days leading up to this invasion is that Vladimir Putin is increasingly isolated. That bizarre video of him berating his senior officials shows that he’s making these decisions increasingly in isolation and illogically.

And unfortunately I think that that is part of the reason why the initial round of international sanctions that [were] put in place by ourselves, by France, Germany, the US, Canada and others, didn’t have the deterrent effect.

But he told BBC Breakfast that the UK was now planning “the largest and most severe economic sanctions passage Russia has ever seen”. And this would be effective, he told the Today programme:

The sanctions package that will be put in response to this is already actually having an effect. Just the announcement that it’s coming - we’ve seen the Russian stock market, the equivalent of the FTSE, drop by over 30%. That is a huge reduction in Russia’s economic abilities to fund this invasion.

And those sanctions will be laid today and over forthcoming days to really prevent Russia from funding this invasion.

James Cleverly.
James Cleverly. Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP

Updated

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has order British airlines to avoid Ukrainian airspace in the light of Russia’s invasion of the country.

This is from Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, on the invasion of Ukraine.

Updated

UK to respond to invasion of Ukraine with 'overwhelming sanctions', says PM's chief of staff

Steve Barclay, the Cabinet Office minister and chief of staff to the PM, is taking questions in the Commons. He opened with a statement about Ukraine saying the UK would respond to the invasion with “overwhelming sanctions”.

He said:

I’m sure I speak for the whole house when I say I’m appalled by the horrific events in Ukraine. This is an unprovoked attack by President Putin and the UK and its allies will respond decisively. This morning the prime minister spoke to President Zelenskiy and chaired Cobra and he will make a statement to this house later today to outline the UK response, including overwhelming sanctions.

The Cabinet Office is also accelerating work on domestic resilience, and we will provide more information on this in due course.

Steve Barclay in the Commons this morning.
Steve Barclay in the Commons this morning. Photograph: Parliament TV

Updated

Johnson to make statement to MPs about Ukraine at 5pm

The Commons authorities have just put out an amended timetable, and they say Boris Johnson’s statement to MPs will now be at 5pm.

That is to allow Johnson to participate in a virtual G7 meeting in the early afternoon.

It is understood that Johnson will also be making a statement about the crisis on camera from No 10 this morning.

The Commons authorities have now announced the running order for events in the chamber this morning.

Cabinet Office questions go on until 10.30am. After that here is the list of UQs and statements. The timings are approximate, because sometimes statements can overrun.

10.30am: Andrew Bridgen asks an urgent question about compensation to Post Office employees affected by the Horizon software scandal.

Around 11.10am: Mark Spencer, leader of the Commons, takes business questions.

Around 12.10pm: Boris Johnson makes a statement about Ukraine.

After 2.40pm: Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, makes a statement about post-18 education.

The Bridgen UQ may have been scheduled to allow Johnson more time to prepare his Ukraine statement.

Updated

Putin was 'encouraged' to invade by limited scope of initial sanctions, claims Tom Tugendhat

Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said President Putin had been “encouraged” to launch a full invasion of Ukraine by the limited nature of the sanctions package unveiled by the UK earlier this week. He told the Today programme:

I’m afraid weak sanctions like the ones that were imposed [earlier in the week] just encourage others to believe we are weak because we’re clearly not willing to do anything serious ...

What that did, I’m afraid, was it didn’t deter, but encouraged, because it gave the suggestion or made clear that we weren’t wiling to do anything serious. If we are going to do sanctions, as I say, we need to do them extremely hard and extremely early.

Tugendhat said Russia must now face “extremely hard” penalties.

He also said that the conflict would affect the cost of living for people living in the UK. He explained:

10% of the world’s wheat is grown in Ukraine and the idea that this year’s going to be a good crop, I’m afraid, is for the birds.

This is absolutely one of those moments where we’re going to see the cost-of-living crisis driven by war.

Tom Tugendhat.
Tom Tugendhat. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA

Labour calls for 'hardest possible sanctions' against Russia

Labour has called for the “hardest possible sanctions” against Russia. Keir Starmer issued this statement earlier this morning.

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.

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 frontline 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.

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.

I know people in this country will be feeling worried and uncertain. And I know that Ukrainians and Russians here in the UK will be worrying for friends and family back home. Our hearts are with them today.

We must now match our rhetoric with action. We must urgently reinforce our NATO allies. The hardest possible sanctions must be taken against all those linked to Putin. The influence of Russian money must be extricated from the UK. And those who have for too long turned a blind eye to Russia’s actions must reckon with their own consciences.

Boris Johnson chairs meeting of Cobra committee over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Good morning. Boris Johnson has been chairing a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee called in response to the invasion of Ukraine. He was woken overnight to be told of the attack, and before 5am this tweet went out in his name.

Shortly afterwards Downing Street issued this statement.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the early hours of this morning.

The prime minister said he was appalled by the unfolding events in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president updated the prime minister on the attacks taking place, and the prime minister said the West would not stand by as President Putin waged his campaign against the Ukrainian people.

The prime minister said he hoped Ukraine could resist and that Ukraine and its people were in the thoughts of everyone in the United Kingdom people during this dark time.

Johnson is expected to address MPs later, where he is likely to give details of the escalated “barrage” of sanctions against Russia promised earlier this week. The initial sanctions announced on Tuesday were criticised as relatively feeble.

I will be covering UK elements of the crisis here, but for full coverage of the story, and for the global perspective, do read our dedicated live blog. It’s here.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Steve Barclary, the Cabinet Office minister and chief of staff to the PM, takes questions in the Commons.

10am: Sajid Javid, the health secretary, gives evidence to the public administration and constitutional affairs committee about the Coronavirus Act.

After 10.30am: Boris Johnson is expected to make a statement to MPs on Ukraine.

After 10.30am: Nadhim Zahawi, the eductation secretary, will make a statement to MPs about plans to reform post-18 education in England. As Sally Weale reports, students in England will have to pay back university loans over 40 years instead of 30 under the plans.

12.30pm: Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, delivers the Mais lecture. As Phillip Inman reports, Sunak will say he wants to cut taxes “sustainably” and downgrade the role played by the state as an engine of growth.

Starmer was due to give a speech on the economy today, but that has now been postponed. As Rowena Mason reports, according to the extracts released in advance, Starmer was going to say Labour will seek to “reimagine the role of government” as a partner to the private sector and take advantage of the opportunities of Brexit,

At some point Johnson is also due to attend a virtual G7 meeting.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com.

Updated

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