Boris Johnson has claimed Vladimir Putin is bent on a “full-scale invasion of Ukraine” as the Russian president faced widespread condemnation for ordering troops over the border.
The prime minister said Mr Putin had “completely torn up international law” over the decision to recognise parts of eastern Ukraine as independent entities, and warned he was seemingly intent on capturing the capital, Kyiv.
After chairing an emergency Cobra meeting, he also said the UK government will unveil the first cache of economic sanctions against the Kremlin later today and warned of “more Russian irrational behaviour to come”.
These sanctions – to be revealed in a Commons statement – will be aimed not just at entities at regions including Donetsk but also “in Russia itself, targeting Russian economic interests as hard as we can”, he added.
His remarks came after the cabinet minister Sajid Javid labelled Moscow’s action in the Eastern European country an “invasion” and said “under the guise of so-called peacekeepers” Russian troops were entering Ukraine.
Mr Javid added that he agreed with an analysis from Britain’s former top Nato commander, who earlier told the BBC: “This is the most dangerous moment in Europe probably at least since 1962 and the Cuban missile crisis.”
Speaking after a meeting of senior ministers and officials, the prime minister warned: “I’m afraid all the evidence is that President Putin is indeed bent on a full scale invasion of the Ukraine, the overrunning, the subjugation of an independent, sovereign European country and I think, let’s be absolutely clear, that will be absolutely catastrophic.”
“If Vladimir Putin continues down this track of violence, of aggression, of a full-scale invasion, of encircling Kyiv itself which is what he seems to be proposing to do, capturing the Ukrainian capital, it is absolutely vital that that effort, that conquest of another European country, should not succeed and that Putin should fail.”
He also insisted that Mr Putin had “gravely miscalculated” the situation after the Kremlin recognised parts of eastern Ukraine as independent entities, sending Russian forces into the sovereign country.
On sanctions levelled at the Kremlin, the prime minister said they were “just the first barrage of UK economic sanctions against Russia because we expect I’m afraid that there is more Russian irrational behaviour to come.”
“They will hit Russia very hard and there is a lot more that we are going to do in the event of an invasion,” he added.
“Be in no doubt that if Russian companies are prevented from raising capital on the UK financial markets, if we unpeel the facade of Russian ownership of companies, of property, it will start to hurt.”
Defence secretary Ben Wallace said the situation in Ukraine was “incredibly serious”, adding: “This is a sovereign state which has now had some of its land effectively annexed from it.”
Speaking about the crisis at a Joint Expeditionary Force meeting of Nato ministers in Leicestershire, Mr Wallace said Russia’s decision to recognise independent states regions “includes territory which is actually on the other side of the line of control”.
The defence secretary added: “We’ve seen, in open source reporting, Russian military equipment moving into that region. We’ll have to verify that given what we know about Russian media performances and truth versus reality.”
David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, also said Labour stood “in solidarity with the Ukrainian people who have shown dignity and resilience throughout Putin’s aggression”.
“They don’t deserve this,” he added. “The UK and our Allies must respond with strong sanctions. Putin and the Russian regime must face serious consequences.”
