Ukraine said on Wednesday that it would introduce a state of emergency across the country, apart from the separatist regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, and called on its citizens to immediately leave Russia, as fears continued that all-out war was imminent.

       The country’s parliament also backed a law to allow its citizens to carry firearms and placed sanctions against 351 Russians, including MPs who supported recognising the independence of the two separatist-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine.

       The sanctions impose restrictions including barring people from entering Ukraine, and preventing their access to assets, capital, and property.

       The moves came as the diplomatic window to avoid all-out conflict appeared almost closed.

       Japan became the latest nation to target sanctions against Russia and threatened to go further if Moscow launched an all-out invasion of its neighbour.

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       Japan joined the United States, the European Union, Britain, Australia and Canada in announcing plans to target banks and elites, while Germany halted a major gas pipeline project from Russia in one of the worst security crises in Europe in decades.

       Kiev though urged the international community to go further.

       “First decisive steps were taken yesterday, and we are grateful for them,” Ukraine foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a tweet. “Now the pressure needs to step up to stop Putin. Hit his economy and cronies. Hit more. Hit hard. Hit now.”

       Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has also called up reservists to the army in the face of increasing risk of a full-blown Russian assault.

       Ukrainian Army soldiers pose for a photo as they gather to celebrate a Day of Unity in Odessa,

       (Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

       The UK prime minister Boris Johnson faced criticism from all sides for not going far enough when he announced his clutch of measures - sanctions on five Russian banks and three individuals on Tuesday.

       Labour’s David Lammy has said the government needs to implement much stronger sanctions teling BBC Breakfast a threshold has already been “breached” by the Russian move to recognise the independence of separatist regions in Donbass.

       The shadow foreign secretary said: “I think the mood of the entire House of Commons yesterday was that the government were not being strong enough...backbenchers in the Conservative Party are hugely concerned that we’ve not been strong or hard enough.”

       Firefighters extinguish a fire in a house, which is said was hit in the shelling by Russia-backed separatists,

       (AFP via Getty Images)

       The three Russian oligarchs have been on the US sanctions list since 2018 and the five sanctioned Russian banks — Rossiya, IS Bank, General Bank, Promsvyazbank and the Black Sea Bank — do not include the state-backed big two, Sberbank and VTB.

       However, UK foreign secretary Liz Truss, insisted the UK was ready to “escalate” sanctions and “inflict further pain” in the likely event of a full-scale invasion.

       Meanwhile, China has rejected the use of sanctions, not recognising it as a way to solve problems, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday, when asked if the Asian nation would join Western countries in sanctioning Russia over Ukraine.

       Russian RS-24 Yars ballistic missiles roll in Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia

       (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

       China hopes relevant parties can try to resolve their issues through dialogue and remain calm and exercise restraint, ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing.

       The pope has also called for countries to show restraint.

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       Pope Francis on Wednesday said the threat of war in Ukraine had caused “great pain in my heart”, and urged politicians to make a serious examination of conscience before God about their actions.

       Speaking in a sombre tone at the end of his weekly general audience, Francis urged leaders to abstain from any moves that would cause further suffering for people and proclaimed Ash Wednesday, 2 March, as an international day of fasting and prayer for peace