Squatters have occupied a London mansion, allegedly linked to a Russian oligarch, in protest over Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

       At least five activists from the group known as the London Makhnovists took over the luxury townhouse in Belgrave Square on Monday, claiming that it “belongs to Ukrainian refugees”.

       They hung a Ukrainian flag from an upstairs window and unfurled a banner that reads “this property has been liberated”.

       Another banner reads: “Putin go f*** yourself.”

       The property worth more than ￡2 million is apparently owned by Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire industrialist with close links with the British political establishment, who was targeted by government sanctions last week.

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       He was described as “a prominent Russian businessman and pro-Kremlin oligarch”, who is “closely associated” with both the Russian government and Putin.

       The area had been cordoned off while six police vans were parked outside

       (Lamiat Sabin / The Independent)

       The house at 5 Belgrave Square is reportedly one of the many UK properties in Deripaska’s property portfolio, and it has been owned by an offshore British Virgin Islands company.

       When The Independent asked the activists how long they plan to be at the property, one of the squatters shouted from the balcony: “Until Putin stops the war.”

       The group is named after the 1917 Ukrainian anarchist movement known as the Makhnovists that was led by Nestor Ivanovich Makhno.

       In response to the The Independent asking how they broke into the mansion, the activist joked that the “ghost of Nestor Makhno manifested himself and opened the door.”

       The activists described their group as a “property liberation front”, and are demanding that properties of oligarchs are seized to house refugees.

       One of the activists vowed to “go further” to occupy properties – adding “no more oligarchs’ mansions!”

       They also said: “Do we want to live in a society that protects mansions of oligarchs, or that houses refugees?”

       Anarchist activists speaking from the balcony of 5 Belgravia Square

       (Lamiat Sabin)

       A passer-by was overheard saying: “Good for them. F*** Putin.”

       One of the activists also accused police of “restricting the protest” and claimed that “the only thing standing in the way of refugees being housed is the police”. Officers at the scene declined to answer any reporters’ questions.

       Six police vans were outside the property and officers had cordoned off part of the street in the affluent area where embassies of many countries are located.

       In a statement, Metropolitan Police said officers were called to the property at 1am on Monday, and found that “a number of people had gained entry and hung banners from upstairs windows”.

       The anarchists said, in a statement, that they had taken over the mansion “in protest against Putin and his world” and wanted to show solidary with Ukrainians whose lives are devastated by the invasion.

       Metropolitan Police Territorial Support Group watch over the property

       (Jonathan Brady/PA)

       In Ukraine, about 600 civilians have been killed – according to the United Nations, more than 2.5 million people have been forced to flee, and Russian troops’ bombardments have destroyed infrastructure and homes across the country in the invasion launched on 24 February.

       “This mansion belongs to a Russian oligarch, complicit in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” the squatters said in a statement.

       They said the residence would “serve as a centre for refugee support, for Ukrainians and people of all nations and ethnicities”.

       As the activists occupied the mansion, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan repeated his call for some Russian oligarch-owned London properties – that he called “gold bricks used to launder money” – to house displaced Ukrainians.

       “I think the government should be seizing them, and before selling them – because they’ll take some time – they should be using them to house those Ukrainians who are fleeing Ukraine, who we’ll be offering a safe haven in London,” he told Times Radio.

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       “It’s a form of poetic justice, but also it’s a good use of these many, many empty properties sitting across London simply with dust being gathered inside rather than them being used to house people who need homes.”

       At the weekend, Michael Gove, the housing secretary, said the government wants to “explore” the option of using sanctioned oligarchs’ mansion homes to house Ukrainian refugees.

       The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015.

       Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered.

       To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.