Nato could change its approach to the war between Russia and Ukraine if Vladimir Putin was to use chemical weapons, the armed forces minister has confirmed.
James Heappey said the United States was right to have declassified intelligence suggesting the Russian president is planning to launch a chemical weapons attack.
Asked if the use of such weapons would change anything in terms of western military intervention, Mr Heappey told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "President Putin needs to be clear that the use of chemical weapons is just the most despicable thing that anyone can imagine. "
Pressed on if it would be a 'red line', he added: "I don't think it's helpful to get into any firm commitment right now about where that red line sits. But I think President Putin needs to be very clear about when other countries have used chemical weapons, it has caused an international response.
"And I think that the US are right to declassify the intelligence so that Putin knows that we know that he's got this under consideration.
"And I think he should reflect very urgently on what has happened to other countries where they have used this."
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Roman Abramovich is among seven oligarchs hit by the Government in a new wave of sanctions.
More to follow.
Priti Patel is preparing an about-turn to allow up to 20,000 more Ukrainians in the UK to bring in loved ones and remain for three years in the wake of criticism over the Government’s handling of the refugee crisis, Charles Hymas writes.
Amid growing fury at the Government’s mishandling of the refugee exodus, Boris Johnson has also approved the deployment of 100 soldiers to Poland to help speed up processing applications after reports of refugees stuck in queues in sub-zero temperatures.
Under 1,000 visas have been granted so far, despite the Home Office receiving 22,000 applications. Thousands of refugees have also struggled to book appointments at British visa centres across Europe, with hundreds in Calais unable to cross the Channel.
At present, the Ukraine family scheme is restricted only to those with permanent residence in the UK, either as citizens or with settled status, thought to number about 40,000.
Home Secretary set to extend criteria for displaced people
It was one of the last great campaigns, a final Mad Men masterpiece before the art of TV advertisements was forever destroyed by Google and Facebook. Filmed in 1997, the year of Tony Blair’s Third Way, it starred Mikhail Gorbachev and his young granddaughter.
Six years after the peaceful dissolution of the Soviet Union, its former leader walks into a cyrillic-logoed pizza restaurant in Red Square, and is spotted by a Muscovite family, triggering an inter-generational political row with an eerie contemporary relevance.
"Because of him we have economic confusion," the grandfather claims. "Because of him, we have opportunity," his son retorts. The argument goes on, entirely in Russian: "Political instability？… freedom？… complete chaos？… hope."
The grandmother intervenes, arguing that "because of him we have many things？… like Pizza Hut", a statement which unites her squabbling family. The entire restaurant stands up, greasy slices of the American dream in hand, and hail Gorbachev over and over again: the end of communism might have been traumatic, but globalised, Western-tinged capitalism was now the unbreakable consensus, the End of History, the new world order from which all else flows. There was no going back.
Fast-forward 25 years, and this naive utopia lies shattered by Vladimir Putin’s abominable war crimes in Ukraine. Globalisation in its current incarnation is ending. Pizza Hut has effectively quit Russia, as has McDonald’s, which was so famously greeted by immense queues when it opened what was then its largest restaurant in the world in Red Square in January 1990.
Allister Health: The utopian vision of consumerist peace lies shattered
The final design for the new national flagship - seen as a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia - will be unveiled ahead of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations later this year.
A new national shipbuilding strategy, published by Boris Johnson today, commits to unveiling the design for the new flagship to "showcase cutting-edge British shipbuilding, engineering and technology, particularly clean maritime technologies" in the spring.
Officials are hoping that the grand reveal of the new ￡250 million ship - before the Queen's Platinum Jubilee weekend, marking her 70 years on the throne - will be seen as a "restatement of the values and business case of the ship".
The new flagship will be seen as a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was axed by Tony Blair's government months after the 1997 general election - although the Royal Family has so far distanced itself from the new vessel.
？Christopher Hope has the story
The UK believes the attack on a Mariupol maternity hospital was an artillery strike rather than an air strike but the details are still being looked at, the armed forces minister said.
"No no-fly zone will impact on artillery strikes," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme as he said it was "abhorrent" if Russia had launched indiscriminate attacks on Ukrainian cities and "even worse" if it had deliberately targeted the hospital.
"Frankly, from the perspective of whether or not we're seeing this morning is a war crime, it is," he said. "It is a war crime to target something like that and it is a war crime to not have due regard in your targeting for a protected site like a hospital when you're using artillery.
Asked whether the prospect of a chemical weapons attack was likely and changed Nato's calculations, he added: "When you read that stuff, you are utterly appalled by the fact it is even under consideration. President Putin needs to be clear that the use of chemical weapons is just the most despicable thing that anyone can imagine.
"As horrid as the pictures are that we're seeing on our TV screens today of an artillery strike against a hospital, they are but nothing by comparison to the suffering and devastation that chemical weapons would caused."
On whether this would signify a red line, Mr Heappey replied it was "not helpful" to speculate about where a red line might sit, but said: "Putin needs to be clear that when other countries have used chemical weapons it has caused an international response. The use of chemical weapons is the most despicable thing."
The chaotic visa scheme for Ukrainian refugees is "very much under review" with further changes being discussed in the hope of welcoming more refugees, a minister has said.
James Heappey, the armed forces minister, also ruled out sending any aid staff to Calais on the grounds that they would be better deployed at a number of busier visa processing centres in Poland.
Speaking of the role that the Ministry of Defence will play, he told Sky News: "We’ll supply as many people as they need in order to get the highest number of people processed in the quickest time possible.
"And then the Home Secretary has got some choices which I know she’s considering about how to further change the visa process and what checks might be necessary within it.
"You have to balance on the one hand risks to the United Kingdom and I accept people will look at these TV screens and say look there is an immediate imperative to waive all this stuff and do it quicker. I know she is looking very, very carefully about what bits of policy can be changed to do that."
Vladimir Putin must not be "rewarded" with the Donbas, the armed forces minister insisted ahead of the highest peace talks between Russia and Ukraine to date.
Asked if the time had come to speak to Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, and urge some form of agreement with Putin, James Heappey told Sky News: "What compromise would you suggest is acceptable?
"Four weeks ago Ukraine was a sovereign country, living peacefully without threatening its neighbours, within its own border.
"I don’t know that the international community should be turning round to President Zelensky and say it’s time to reward Putin, with having basically bullied him out of the Donbas and to write off the Crimea."
The minister for the armed forces accused Russia of a "war crime" after the destruction of a maternity hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol by Russian forces.
James Heappey urged Vladimir Putin to “stop” launching indiscriminate or targeted attacks on Ukraine as he said the UK wants to see the Russian president and his entire chain of command brought to justice.
"Those atrocities are being watched, they’re being catalogued and people will be held to account,” Mr Heappey told Sky News.
"What you see on your TV screens is a war crime. Clearly there is evidence to be gathered in which to prove it is a war crime and western countries are working together to ensure that evidence is gathered in the best way so people can be held to account.
"But let’s be clear, what Putin is doing is not a war waged between two militaries. Right now, he has besieged a number of Ukrainian cities. He’s waged a war against Ukrainian civilians."
Mr Heappey said the "next step" would be for the UK to provide Ukraine with an anti-aircraft capability that works at night and ministers are looking at the "practicalities" of this.
Vladimir Putin must not be "rewarded" with the Donbas, the armed forces minister insisted ahead of the highest peace talks between Russia and Ukraine to date.
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