Putin is 'bent on full scale invasion of Ukraine', Boris warns before sanctions

Boris Johnson has said the ‘first barrage of UK economic sanctions against Russia’ will be revealed today.

The Prime Minister has warned Vladimir Putin is bent on a ‘full scale invasion of Ukraine’.

It comes after ominous footage showed Russian tanks entering eastern regions of the country held by Moscow-backed separatist rebel soldiers.

Yesterday Putin formally recognised Donetsk and Luhansk as independent entities and signed an order for ‘peacekeeping’ forces to be sent in.

He said this would mean the ‘overrunning’ and ‘subjugation’ of a sovereign European country and said the results would be ‘absolutely catastrophic’.

‘Putin has now violated Ukrainian sovereignty, he has broken international law. We will immediately institute a package of international sanctions.’

After hosting an emergency Cobra meeting, the PM said: ‘This is I should stress 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.’

Ukrainian forces have been fighting pro-Russian rebels in the east since 2014, following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.

More than 14,000 people have been killed in this conflict, and breaches of a ceasefire agreed in 2015 have been common.

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