UK to introduce sanctions against Vladimir Putin and Sergei Lavrov imminently Boris Johnson has told Nato leaders that “immediate action” must be taken to ban Russia from the Swift payment platform to “inflict maximum pain” on Vladimir Putin. The prime minister, who attended the virtual meeting of the leaders, warned Nato that Mr Putin was “engaging in a revanchist mission to overturn post-cold war order”, according to a No 10 spokesperson. The spokesperson said the PM had “urged leaders to take immediate action against Swift to inflict maximum pain on President Putin and his regime”. Johnson told the leaders “the UK would introduce sanctions against President Putin and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov imminently, on top of the sanctions package the UK announced yesterday”, bringing the government in line with measures announced by the EU. The spokesperson said: “He warned the group that the Russian president’s ambitions might not stop there and that this was a Euro-Atlantic crisis with global consequences.” The Royal Opera House have cancelled a tour from Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet following the invasion of Ukraine. The Moscow-based ballet company, who were set to return to London this summer, has been called off as Kyiv was hit by air strikes and Russian fighters closed in on Kyiv. In a statement, the Royal Opera House said: “A summer season of the Bolshoi Ballet at the Royal Opera House had been in the final stages of planning. “Unfortunately, under the current circumstances, the season cannot now go ahead.” Downing Street said Boris Johnson spoke to the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, this evening to discuss how western allies could further ratchet up pressure on the Russian regime. A spokeswoman said: “The prime minister thanked the Canadian leader for his diplomatic efforts and coordination with allies on sanctions, and said the UK and Canada held a shared ambition in ensuring President Putin failed and was seen to fail. “The prime minister said allies needed to take immediate action on SWIFT, and the leaders discussed further options to increase coordinated economic pressure on Russia. “The world also needs to remain vigilant to potential for the Russian regime to further exploit vulnerabilities in other countries too, the leaders agreed. “Both leaders said President Putin’s attack on Ukraine was an attack on democracies everywhere, and the world needed to stand together and support the Ukrainians in any way possible in their hour of need.” The expulsion of Russia’s ambassador in Ireland has not been ruled out, Leo Varadkar said. The country’s deputy premier said the government is not currently planning to expel Yuri Filatov but it remains an option. Varadkar suggested that the government in Ireland may move imminently to cut the number of Russian staff at the embassy in Dublin from 20 to around three, PA reports. Asked if the government will expel Filatov, Varadkar told RTE: “It’s not something that we plan to do at the moment; it’s not something that we’re ruling out either. “As is often the case, these things are done on an EU-coordinated level.” Boris Johnson has addressed a message directly to the people of Russia, saying in Russian: “I do not believe this war is in your name.” In a video posted on social media, the prime minister also spoke Ukrainian after urging an end to the conflict “because the world needs a free and sovereign Ukraine”. He said: “The scenes unfolding in the streets and fields of Ukraine are nothing short of a tragedy. “Brave young soldiers and innocent civilians are being cut down, tanks are rumbling through towns and cities, missiles raining indiscriminately from the skies. “It’s a generation or more since we witnessed such bloodshed in Europe. We hoped we would never have to see such sights again.” UK extends travel ban on Russian aircraft The transport secretary said he has extended a UK flight ban on Russian aircraft to include private jets. The government previously announced it was banning Russia’s flag carrier Aeroflot from landing in the UK. The UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has tweeted: “Today the UK stood by Ukraine and other Council of Europe states and voted to suspend Russia. “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exposed Putin’s disregard for the rule of law, democracy & human rights. We support Ukraine and condemn this abhorrent attack.” The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he is remaining in Kyiv even as Russian forces pounded the capital and other cities with airstrikes for a second day. Russia has limited access to Facebook after the social media provider refused to stop fact-checking and labelling content from state-owned organisations, former deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg said. Authorities in Russia announced the “partial restriction” after the social media network limited the accounts of several Kremlin-backed outlets over the invasion of Ukraine. Russian state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said it had demanded that Facebook lifts the restrictions it placed on Thursday on state news agency RIA Novosti, state TV channel Zvezda, and pro-Kremlin news sites Lenta.Ru and Gazeta.Ru. Clegg, vice president of global affairs at Facebook’s parent company Meta, said that “ordinary Russians are using our apps to express themselves and organise for action” and the company wants “them to continue to make their voices heard”. Russian ambassador to Ireland Yuri Filatov has claimed that his country’s invasion of Ukraine is a “humanitarian intervention”. Filatov said there was no proof that Russian forces had targeted civilians in the assault. He claimed Ukraine had used engagement in diplomacy in recent times as a cover for preparing an offensive on the Donbas region of the country. “It’s not our choice, the military option is not our choice,” he told RTE. He added: “There was no other choice to end the suffering of Donbas through real humanitarian intervention – that’s what this special operation is exactly about. “The only aim of the operation is to neutralise the ability of the Ukrainian military to inflict any more suffering on Donbas. Ukrainians should not be afraid of that.” Here is the full story on BP being warned of government “concern” about its involvement in Russia in a telephone call between the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, and the oil company’s boss Bernard Looney. Kwarteng is understood to have spoken to Looney in the light of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which has increased scrutiny on British business ties to the Kremlin and led to sanctions against Russian firms. Speaking after the call, a Whitehall source said: “BP left the meeting with no doubt about the strength of the business secretary’s concern about their commercial interest in Russia.” The British oil “supermajor” has been deeply entwined with Russia for years: it has a 22% stake in Russian state oil firm Rosneft and holds two seats on the 11-strong board of the company. Ireland’s deputy premier, Leo Varadkar, has described Vladimir Putin as the “Hitler of the 21st century”. The tánaiste acknowledged that sanctions such as the potential banning of Russia from the Swift payment network would have economic implications for Ireland. But he said those consequences needed to be accepted given the situation in Ukraine. “I don’t think we’re in that space where we can be concerned about the economic impact on Ireland when a democratic country in the European Union is being invaded and the attempt is being made to overthrow a democratic government there,” he told RTE Radio One. Varadkar added: “The last time I can think of that happening in Europe is in the 1930s and I think we should see this conflict in that context. “We knew that Putin was a bad man, we’ve known that for a long time now, but we didn’t think that he would be the Hitler of the 21st century and I think he’s putting himself into that space.” London law firms are delaying the sanctions levelled against their Russian oligarch clients by threatening to challenge the measures announced by the UK government, Liz Truss told MPs. The foreign secretary was briefing MPs on the situation in Ukraine on Friday afternoon, according to the Labour MP for Exeter Ben Bradshaw. Bradshaw, who was in the briefing, told the PA news agency Truss had been asked why the sanctions process had not been moving more quickly. He said Truss told MPs it was “because they had to be very careful that when they sanctioned somebody it was legally watertight because these oligarchs’ lawyers in London are very litigious, and she had already had several warning letters from them”. Bradshaw called for the law firms in question to be named in the first instance, but also potentially subject to sanctions themselves. But lawyer David Allen Green said it was “twaddle” that any challenge could delay the sanctions. Jessica Simor QC added that: “Law firms can’t hold it up. Only a court could.” A Ukrainian woman said her “worst case scenario” has come true after she had to pack up her possessions and escape Kyiv with her family and pets. Polina Karabach, 29, made the decision to flee the Ukrainian capital on Friday with her parents, husband, his family and their five dogs, two cats and two parrots. She told the PA news agency: “We saw a great big, black cloud of smoke and there was some small fire after that. “We understood that it’s probably not from the troops and that the explosives that were put there, I assume, to cause the panic. “We had already been preparing some things in advance for the worst case scenario.” A British couple who are stuck in Kyiv after travelling to Ukraine to collect their surrogate-born twins have described the situation as a “living nightmare”. Manisha and Metaish Parmar arrived in the country three weeks ago as the surrogate mother gave birth to the babies they had been waiting for for 13 years, PA reports. They are now stranded in the Ukrainian capital with their newborns and Mr Parmar’s parents amid the Russian invasion. Mrs Parmar told BBC Radio 5 Live: “It’s absolutely traumatising, devastating. “We’re absolutely worried, we don’t know what to do. “We can’t go anywhere, we’re just stranded and stuck in Kyiv.” Charities and opposition parties have urged the government to do more to help with an expected surge in refugees fleeing Ukraine following the Russian invasion, with concerns also raised about the issuing of visas now UK diplomats have left the country. With the UN refugee agency warning that as many as 5 million Ukrainians could be forced to flee, the Liberal Democrats called for a comprehensive and fully funded refugee scheme. Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, said he wanted his country to be a “nation of sanctuary”. Dozens of refugee charities have jointly called for an evacuation and resettlement plan similar to that which saw thousands of families housed in the UK following the Balkans conflicts in the 1990s. Commenting on sanctions against Russia, Prof John Heathershaw, from the University of Exeter, who leads research into international kleptocracy, said: “Russia doesn’t take the UK seriously. “As a nation we have a kleptocracy problem: there are professional ‘enablers’ that help Russian kleptocrats obscure their ownership and sources of wealth, gain UK residency and property, and launder their reputations. “This is structural, involving banks and property. It is not difficult to fix this, but this would involve the sort of regulation which has been opposed by influential UK businesses and elites. “Sanctions must be extensive because of this past record of permissiveness.” Britain’s chief of defence intelligence believes Russian forces are seeking to encircle the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, with a view to imposing a pro-Moscow regime. Lt Gen Sir Jim Hockenhull said the Ukrainian military was continuing to offer “strong resistance” in the face of the Russian advance, PA reports. He said: “Russian forces continue to advance on two axes towards Kyiv. Their objective is to encircle the capital to secure control of the population and change the regime,” he told reporters. “Overnight Russian launched a concerted series of strikes on targets Kyiv. Ukrainian armed forces continue to offer strong resistance focusing on the defence of key cities throughout Ukraine.” BP is under pressure from the government to cut its ties with Russian oil giant Rosneft, which the British-based company holds a 20% stake in. The business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, held a virtual call with BP’s chief executive, Bernard Looney, for around 20 minutes on Friday to discuss the company’s position. A Whitehall source told the PA news agency: “BP left the meeting with no doubt about the strength of the business secretary’s concern about their commercial interests in Russia.” ITV News’ deputy political editor Anushka Asthana has tweeted this: No 10 added that Johnson told Nato leaders that the UK armed forces “stood ready for any further request” for further military support. A Downing Street spokesperson said the PM told the meeting of Nato leaders “that the world must make certain President Putin would fail in this act of aggression”. The spokesperson said the PM told the meeting “Ukraine was showing strong resistance, he added that there could no normalisation of relations with Russia after this act”. The prime minister outlined details of the UK’s new offer to Nato across its eastern flank. The UK stood ready for any further request from Nato’s supreme allied commander Europe to go further with military support to Nato from UK armed forces, he said,” according to the spokesperson. “Nato should have primacy in the future of European security and it was vital that it was strengthened now,” the PM added.