A Ukrainian journalist who escaped over the border broke down in tears today as she confronted Boris Johnson and accused him of being afraid of war.
Daria Kaleniuk upbraided the Prime Minister at a press conference in Poland, demanding he implement a no-fly zone to stop Russian jets killing civilians.
A military convoy around 40 miles long is north of the Ukrainian capital and there are fears that the city will face a barrage of rockets and shells which could inflict devastating civilian casualties.
But Britain and NATO allies are refusing to implement a no-fly zone due to the risk of an ‘Article 5’ clash - which could force all 30 NATO allies to go to war with nuclear-armed Russia.
In a powerful diatribe, the journalist said: “You’re coming to Poland - you’re not coming to Kyiv, Prime Minister. You’re not coming to Lviv.
“Because you are afraid. Because NATO is not willing to defend.
“Because NATO is afraid of World War 3 - but it has already started.
“These are Ukrainian children who are there taking the hit.
“You are talking about more sanctions, but Roman Abramovich is not sanctioned. He’s in London. His children are not in the bombardments, his children are there in London. Putin’s children are in the Netherlands . In Germany. In mansions.
“Where are all these mansions seized? I don’t see that.”
Breaking down in tears she said: “My family members, my team members, are saying we are crying, we don’t know where to run. This is what is happening, Prime Minister.”
Boris Johnson replied “thank you for getting here today, and I’m glad you’ve been able to get here.”
He admitted: “There is not enough we can do as the UK government to help in the way that you want, and I’ve got to be honest about that.”
Once again he refused calls to implement a no-fly zone but said Britain could help in other ways.
The PM said: “Unfortunately the implication of that is that the UK would be engaged in shooting down Russian planes, would be engaged in direct combat with Russia - that’s not something we can do, or that we’ve envisaged.
"And I think the consequences of that would be truly very difficult to control.”
It came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received applause in the European Parliament as he raised a fist and called for Ukraine to be admitted to the EU.
He told politicians: “Do prove that you are with us. Do prove that you will not let us go.
“Do prove that you are indeed Europeans and then life will win over death and light will win over darkness.”
Speaking after she made her emotional plea to Boris Johnson to enforce a no-fly zone, Daria Kaleniuk told reporters: "My message is that the suffering of people in Ukraine is unbelievable now."
"My call to the West is protect our sky. It is insane that our sky is being protected by children who are taking the heat," she said.
She said Ukrainians were "taking guns with zero protection" to "fight the evil" of Russian troops.
The journalist hit out as Boris Johnson hurriedly announced an expansion of the UK's help for Ukrainian refugees.
On Sunday ministers announced close family members of people already settled in the UK could join them from Ukraine. But only close family members were eligible. Ministers claimed that could be up to 100,000 people but this was only a rough estimate of the number potentially eligible - not the number expected to actually come.
Today Mr Johnson announced that will extend to wider family members, and there will also be a sponsorship route for firms to bring Ukrainians to the UK. But No10 confirmed there will be no further extension for now, despite the EU preparing to announce all Ukrainian refugees can live and work for three years.
The PM said: “We will make it easier for Ukrainians already living in the UK to bring their relatives to our country.
"And though the numbers are hard to calculate, they could be more than 200,000”.
He added: “We’re extending the family scheme so that actually very considerable numbers would be eligible… you could be talking about a couple of hundred thousand, maybe more.
"Additionally we’re going to have a humanitarian scheme, and then a scheme by which UK companies and citizens can sponsor individual Ukrainians to come to the UK.”
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "So the expansion in terms of family members will cover adult parents, grandparents, children over 18 and siblings.
"That’s in addition to what was set out over the weekend. And then there will be the sponsorship schemed which the PM talked about [which doesn’t relate to people settled in the UK]".
Mr Johnson warned if Ukraine's government does collapse, “we must prepare to support them whatever happens in the weeks ahead”.
But he added: “Putin has stubbed his toe and tripped on a giant and immovable fact - which is no matter how many troops and tanks he sends, the Ukrainians desire to live in a free and independent country.”
Confronting the UK PM, the Ukrainian journalist said: "I’m from Kiev. Most of my family, most of my team members are still in Ukraine - in Kiev, in Lviv.
"You’re talking about the stoicism of Ukrainian people - but Ukrainian women and Ukrainian children are in great fear due to bombs and missiles which are going from the sky.
"And Ukrainian people are desperately asking for the West to protect our sky. We are asking for a no fly zone. We are seeing the response that it will trigger World War Three. But what is the alternative Mr Prime Minister?"
She added: "We have planes here, we have an air defence system in Poland, in Romania - at least this air defence would shield Western Ukraine, so these children with women could come to the border. It’s impossible now to cross the border.
"There are 30km of mines - imagine crossing the border with a baby or with two children."
Earlier Boris Johnson warned “Putin will continue to tighten the vice”.
The UK Prime Minister arrived in Poland where he warned the Russian war in Ukraine "is worse than our predictions", "we’re seeing an unfolding disaster in our European continent."
Standing beside Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, he said: " Vladimir Putin is prepared to use barbaric and indiscriminate tactics against innocent civilians.
"To bomb tower blocks, to send missiles into tower blocks, to kill children, as we are seeing in increasing numbers".
Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK today warned Putin’s forces could try to starve Ukrainians.
Asked about the potential for a “food crisis” and looting, Vadym Prystaiko told the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee: “They will try to crush the will of the Ukrainian people to resist.
“We see problems with cash for example - people just running out of cash and they have interruption in their services.
“The terminals won’t be working and we will have to come up with some military solution to the distribution of food.”
He admitted Ukraine had to “pump up all the food we can until the routes are blocked”.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis warned it was clear Putin has "no boundaries" to what instruments he will use against Ukraine. “It is possible that this war will become a massacre," he told the UK’s Foreign Affairs Committee.
In Poland, Boris Johnson was meeting Prime Minister Morawiecki - before meeting NATO's Secretary General and UK troops in Estonia.
The Prime Minister was also due to meet Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Estonian President Alar Karis this afternoon.
It comes after Oksana Markarova, Ukraine's ambassador to the US, said Russia had used a thermobaric weapon, known as a vacuum bomb, in its invasion of her country.
A vacuum bomb sucks in oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion that is capable of vaporising human bodies.
Concerns had been growing last night among Western officials that the weapons could be deployed.
They raised “significant concern” last night about evidence the TOS-1A thermobaric rocket launcher was present among Russian forces.
A Western official said: “Given the indiscriminate nature of that system, and it is certainly if it’s used in any form of built-up area, there is no way in which you could eradicate the risk of significant civilian casualties through the use of those sorts of systems.”
Boris Johnson said: “I’ve seen the reports about cluster bombs and thermobaric weapons - they will of course have to be verified, but I think everybody involved in the Russian onslaught should understand all this will be collated in evidence to be used at a future time in what could be proceedings before the International Criminal Court.
“If you’re going to use illegal weapons against innocent civilians, you’re going to be brought to the bar of history - or rather, to the International Criminal Court before then.”
