Vladimir Putin has ‘bitten off more than he can chew’ in Ukraine, says UK defence minister

Time for ‘kleptocracy’ in Moscow to call out Russian president, says Armed Forces minister

Russian president Vladimir Putin has “bitten off more than he can chew” with the invasion of Ukraine, a British defence minister has said.

Armed Forces minister James Heappey suggested the Kremlin would be disappointed with the speed of its advance in Ukraine.

“We remind the Russian public that president Putin may well have bitten off more than he can chew,” he told MPs in the Commons on Friday.

Mr Heappey added: “We are pretty certain that in the Kremlin last night there will have been some urgent reflections on the speed of advance compared.”

Appealing to the Russian public, the minister added: “I think the Russian people and kleptocracy that surrounds him should be calling president Putin out on that. Because young Russian men and women are being sacrificed in the name of president Putin’s hubris.”

Mr Heappey also paid tribute to protestors in Russian cities demonstrating in open defiance of Putin – praising those who came out on the streets “against this pointless loss of Russian life”.

A Ministry of Defence assessment published on Friday said that it was “unlikely that Russia has achieved its planned day one military objectives” – saying an advance on a city north-east of Kyiv had been halted.

Defence secretary Ben Wallace said Mr Putin had been a “bloody nose” by the Ukraine fight-back on Thursday – saying 450 Russian soldiers had been killed on the first day of the invasion.

Former CIA director David Petraeus said he was “a little underwhelmed” by what Russian advance, telling BBC Newsnight that Ukrainian forces had held back Russian troops “fairly impressively”.

It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has pleaded for more military support, and the Nato enforcement of a no-fly zone over Ukraine to help fend off the Russian invasion as Kyiv was hit by air strikes.

Mr Zelensky said: “Who is ready to fight with us? Honestly, I don’t see anyone … They say they are with us but they are not ready to take us in the [Nato] military alliance. All of them are afraid.”

After holding talks with Boris Johnson on Friday morning, Mr Zelensky also called for allies to provide more “effective counteraction” against Moscow’s advances.

Russian forces’ movements since the invasion began (Press Association Images)

However, Mr Heappey said British and Nato troops must not enter Ukraine because of the “risk of miscalculation” leading to “existential” threat, a minister has said.

He added: “We must all be clear what the risk of miscalculation could be and how existential that could very quickly become if people miscalculate and things escalate unnecessarily.”

Pressed on Ukraine’s request for allies to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine, Mr Heappey said it would be “somewhat difficult to implement in a hostile airspace against a peer adversary”.

He noted eyes must be open to the reality that “in such an event, Nato jets would not possibly, but would most certainly probably, come into a combat situation with Russian jets”.

Mr Heappey said the UK would send further armed forces to Estonia “earlier than planned” to reinforce the Nato ally in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In addition to the Royal Tank Regiment battle group already in Estonia, the Royal Welsh battlegroup will be arriving in Estonia earlier than planned to “double up” force levels, Mr Heappey said.

The Armed Forces minister told MPs that the government would “explore all that we can do to support the Ukrainians themselves over the next few days”.

He said anti-tank missiles had “proven to be invaluable” to Ukraine, telling MPs that the weapons were “high on our list of things that we are looking to supply”.

The defence minister also said 1,000 UK troops are on standby to support Ukraine’s neighbours – Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Poland – with refugee responses and the “challenges they will face as people make their way out”.