UK ready to ‘intensify’ sanctions against Russia, Boris Johnson says

‘Vladimir Putin has also underestimated the unity and resolve,’ PM says

Boris Johnson has said the UK stands ready to “intensify” sanctions on the Kremlin and go on supporting Ukraine “for as long as it takes”.

As the Russian invasion entered its sixth day, the prime minister accused Vladimir Putin of using “barbaric and indiscriminate tactics against innocent civilians” with missile strikes and residential tower blocks.

He described the situation as an “unfolding disaster” in Europe, as video footage emerged on Tuesday of Ukraine’s second-largest city being bombarded by rocket attacks, with civilian deaths reported.

Speaking in Warsaw, Mr Johnson said, however, that the Russian president had underestimated both the resolve of Ukrainians and the “unity” of the West to act in retaliation to the military offensive.

“I think he has inspired and mobilised not only his own people, he is inspiring and mobilising the world in outrage at what is happening in Ukraine,” he said.

Claiming the sanctions, such as asset freezes on major Russian banks and oligarchs associated to Putin were already having a dramatic effect, he said: “We are ready to intensify and to keep going for as long as it takes”.

Over the weekend, the UK, US and EU also agreed to cut Russia off from the global banking system SWIFT, and the foreign secretary revealed the government had drawn up a “hit list” of more oligarchs to target with sanctions.

Standing alongside his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister praised the country for an “inspirational job” in addressing the humanitarian crisis, as tens of thousands flee Ukraine over the Polish border.

This map shows the extent of Russia’s attack on Ukraine (Press Association Images)

He added: “We stand ready, clearly, to take Ukrainian refugees in our own country, working with you, in considerable numbers, as we always have done and always will.”

However, his remarks come as ministers were accused being “heartless and mean-spirited” after it emerged that a new humanitarian route for Ukrainian refugees amounts to only small adjustments to visa rules which will benefit only certain family members of British citizens.

Priti Patel, the home secretary, said on Monday the government had introduced a “bespoke humanitarian route” for people fleeing the Russian invasion in Ukraine, saying it would allow an additional 100,000 Ukrainians to seek sanctuary in the UK.

However, it later emerged that this does not go beyond the easing of rules for a limited pool of family members of UK residents, which was announced over the weekend and has already been branded a “plaster for an open wound”.