UK politics live: Boris Johnson promises ‘massive sanctions’ after Russian invasion of Ukraine

Latest updates: prime minister condemns Russian president Vladimir Putin and promises to stand with Ukraine

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.

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.

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.

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‘Putin chose this war,’ Biden says as he announces new sanctions – US politics as it happened

Some congressional Republicans have attempted to blame Joe Biden’s foreign policy for enabling Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“These developments were not inevitable,” congressman Andy Barr said. “The Biden Administration’s weak and feckless foreign policy not only failed to deter this aggression, it invited this outcome.”

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‘We don’t want this’: Russians react to the Ukraine invasion

People on the streets of Moscow express anger and a sense of hopelessness after Putin’s move

A dark, sombre mood filled the Moscow air on Thursday morning as Russians were coming to terms with the fact that their president had launched a broad military offensive targeting Ukraine.

“I am embarrassed for my country. To be honest with you, I am speechless. War is always scary. We don’t want this,” said Nikita Golubev, a 30-year old teacher.

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‘Peace on our continent has been shattered’: Nato chief on the Russian invasion of Ukraine – video

Nato has increased its troop presence on its eastern boundary in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, secretary general Jens Stoltenberg has said.

'This is a deliberate, cold-blooded and long-planned invasion,’ Stoltenberg said. 'Russia's unjustified, unprovoked attack on Ukraine is putting countless innocent lives at risk with air and missile attacks.'

He said Nato had activated its defence plans, allowing freer movement of troops, but would respond in a defensive rather than combative manner

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Russian central bank buys up roubles to avert stock market collapse

Bank scrambles to prevent invasion of Ukraine sending Russia’s financial system into meltdown as currency hits all-time low

The Russian central bank has purchased millions of roubles to prevent the collapse of the Moscow stock exchange and prop up the currency after it plunged to an all-time low of 89.60 against the dollar.

In a scramble to prevent the invasion of Ukraine pushing Russia’s financial system into meltdown, officials in Moscow closed the stock exchange while the Bank of Russia mounted a rescue operation to put a floor under the skidding rouble.

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Volodymyr Zelenskiy calls on citizens to take up arms for ‘future of Ukraine’ – video

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on Ukrainians who were able to defend the country from Russian forces to come forward, and said Kyiv would issue weapons to anyone who wanted to use them to defend the country's sovereignty. 

Russian forces unleashed an attack on Ukraine on the orders of Vladimir Putin, who announced a 'special military operation' at dawn, amid warnings from world leaders that it could spark the biggest war in Europe since 1945.

Zelenskiy announced after the attack that Ukraine would rupture ties with Moscow

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Energy prices surge as Russian invasion of Ukraine stokes fears of global shortages

European stock markets tumble as crisis fuels near-40% rise in gas price and pushes oil to $105 per barrel

Global markets were thrown into turmoil on Thursday as the arrival of war on European soil sent prices of commodities such as oil, gas and wheat surging, while stock market plunged.

The ramifications of a potentially prolonged conflict involving Europe’s primary supplier of gas sent a chill through markets, affecting prices across a phalanx of asset classes and investments.

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Boris Johnson promises massive sanctions to ‘hobble’ Russian economy

PM says ‘we will not just look away’ and Putin’s ‘barbaric adventure’ in Ukraine must end in failure

Boris Johnson has said that “a vast invasion is under way, by land, by sea and by air” in Ukraine, as he promised to impose “massive” sanctions that would “hobble” the Russian economy.

Speaking as world leaders scrambled to respond to the attacks that began in the early hours of Thursday morning, the UK prime minister said Russia had “attacked a friendly country without any provocation and without any credible excuse”.

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Explosions hit Ukraine’s major airports as Russia begins invasion – video

Footage shows explosions at Ukrainian airports near major cities including Kharkiv and Mariupol in the early hours of Thursday morning. Blasts from artillery rockets were filmed around 5am near Mariupol. Footage also showed smoke rising near Kharkiv military airport and a video posted on social media captured an explosion near the Ivano-Frankivsk airport in western Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a 'special military operation' at dawn. World leaders have warned the move could provoke the biggest war in Europe since the second world war

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Stay or flee? Kyiv comes to terms with disaster of Russian invasion

Moments of normality puncture mood of shock, fear and quiet disgust in Ukraine’s capital

It began in darkness soon after 4.30am local time. There were distant explosions in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and the whine of car alarms. A nation shook itself awake. What had been foretold by western governments, by experts, and – late in the day – by the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was actually happening. Russia was attacking and invading.

Vladimir Putin’s apparent goal: the subjugation of a nation, a culture, a people. It was unthinkable in the twenty-first century. And yet, with imperial swagger, Russian troops, tanks and planes were on the move.

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Long lines of traffic as people flee Ukraine’s capital – video

Queues of traffic were seen on the road leading out of Kyiv as Russian forces launched an attack on Ukraine on the orders of Vladimir Putin.

Within minutes of Putin’s short televised address, at about 5am Ukrainian time, explosions were heard near major Ukrainian cities, including the capital.

Air raid sirens sounded over Kyiv and residents of Kharkiv sheltered in the metro, scenes that had not been seen in those cities since 1941

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Russia invades Ukraine as Putin launches war to ‘demilitarise’ neighbour

Russia appears to be targeting military infrastructure in early strikes with explosions reported at airfields, military headquarters and military warehouses

Russian forces have unleashed an attack of Ukraine on the orders of Vladimir Putin, who announced a “special military operation” at dawn, amid warnings from world leaders that it could spark the biggest war in Europe since 1945.

Within minutes of Putin’s short televised address, at about 5am Ukrainian time, explosions were heard near major Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv.

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CCTV shows Russian tanks entering Ukraine from Belarus and Crimea – video

Russian forces can be seen crossing into Ukraine across the Senkivka-Veselivka border checkpoint with Belarus in border guard CCTV and a separate video shows tanks crossing the border from occupied Crimea. 

The attack on Ukraine was on the orders of Vladimir Putin, who announced a 'special military operation' at dawn. World leaders have warned the move could provoke the biggest war in Europe since 1945

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Zelenskiy introduces martial law in Ukraine as sirens blare in Kyiv – video

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Russia had carried out missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and the country's border guards, and that explosions had been heard in many cities. He said martial law had been declared across the country and that he had spoken by phone to the US president, Joe Biden

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Moment that Putin thundered to war, drowning out last entreaties for peace

As members of UN security council poured out calls for restraint, Russian president was already launching attack on Ukraine

It will go down as one of the most surreal sessions the United Nations chamber has ever witnessed, as the very war it was supposed to prevent broke out while it was sitting.

Vladimir Putin, with brutal timing, delivered a speech announcing that Russia would start a “special military operation” in Ukraine – while an emergency session of the UN security council was under way.

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The west stood back and watched in Syria – it must not do the same in Ukraine | Hamish de Bretton-Gordon

It’s time for the US and its allies to show their steel in the face of Putin’s aggression. We have learned that nothing else will work

The Syria crisis continues unnoticed. It holds key lessons for the west about Putin yet it has gone virtually unnoticed by the rest of the world. War crimes and crimes against humanity continue in the Russian-sponsored dictatorship, even as some misguided leaders want to usher Bashar al-Assad, the architect of these crimes, back into acceptable society.

We can rest assured that the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, unlike Assad, is not welcoming Putin with open arms. But in responding to the Ukraine emergency, there are lessons the west can and should learn from the situation in Syria.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon is a chemical weapons expert, fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge and an adviser to the Union of Syrian Medical Charities

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‘Their golden hour’: Donetsk and Luhansk leaders revel in rising profile

Ukraine crisis has thrust Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik into centre of events, amid claim they are puppets of Putin

For many Russians, it was an unfamiliar sight to see the faces of the two leaders of the pro-Kremlin proxy states in eastern Ukraine pop up on their television screens last Friday, announcing the mass evacuation of Donbas citizens to Russia.

Since then, however, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, heads of the self-proclaimed republics in Luhansk and Donetsk, have seen their political profiles rocket, culminating on Monday with the two leaders asking the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to recognise their “republics”.

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Biden imposes sanctions on company behind Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline– live

House speaker Nancy Pelosi is now holding a press conference on Capitol Hill, after attending the Munich Security Conference last week.

Pelosi attacked Russian President Vladimir Putin for recognizing the two self-proclaimed republics in east Ukraine and ordering troops into the region, repeatedly describing him as a “tyrant”.

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Ukraine crisis live: self-proclaimed republics of Luhansk and Donetsk ask Russia for military aid

Experts see move from Russian-controlled territories as final pretext for full invasion

Russia’s ambassador to the United States has hit back at the imposition of sanctions imposed by US president Joe Biden, suggesting the move would hurt global financial and energy markets as well as ordinary citizens.

According to a recent post on the Russian embassy Facebook page early Wednesday, ambassador Anatoly Antonov said:

Sanctions will not solve anything regarding Russia. It’s hard to imagine that anyone in Washington is counting on Russia to review its foreign policy course under threat of restrictions.

I don’t remember a single day when our country lived without any restrictions from the Western world. We learned how to work in such conditions. And not only survive, but also develop our state.

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