Boris Johnson has come under fire from MPs over the "weak" sanctions issued against Russia before its invasion of Ukraine.

       The Prime Minister vowed on Thursday morning that the United Kingdom would react "decisively" to President Vladimir Putin's military aggression as he chaired a Cobra meeting.

       Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs committee, criticised the measures imposed earlier in the week by Mr Johnson, which targeted five banks and three oligarchs, and said ministers should have acted sooner if they wished to impose tough measures.

       "I'm afraid weak sanctions like the ones that were imposed on Monday just encourage others to believe we are weak because we're clearly not willing to do anything serious," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

       "So what that did, I'm afraid on Monday, was it didn't deter, but encouraged, because it gave the suggestion or made clear that we weren't wiling to do anything serious.

       "If we are going to do sanctions, as I say, we need to do them extremely hard and extremely early."

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       Sir Kim Darroch, the former British ambassador to the United States, said it was "hard for me to believe" the events of today are happening.

       "We’re going to see scenes now that we haven’t seen in Europe for 80 years and it is the most shocking moment I can imagine," Sir Kim said.

       "I fear that the time for changing Putin’s mind is passed. What the consequences are for him in terms of western sanctions has been clear now for weeks and he’s nevertheless gone ahead.

       "Maybe this will become a rallying moment for us, but it’s a deeply destabilising event quite apart from the appalling human tragedy that’s involved and the deep challenge for us."

       Alicia Kearns, the MP for Rutland and Melton a member of the foreign affairs committee, has laid out a list of sanctions she would like to see introduced by Boris Johnson.

       "Consequences must be absolute with clear demands to pull back and humanitarian efforts launched," she urged, calling for the City of London to be banned from servicing all Russian state firms.

       "Blacklist all Russian banks and ban inter-bank borrowing and sovereign debt trading - banks die when funds freeze.

       "Sanction Putin, Shoigu, Lavrov, the Russian Security Council and Duma. Sanction the oligarchs, expel all oligarchs and their families from the UK and expel Russian agents."

       Boris Johnson said Vladimir Putin has "chosen a path of bloodshed and destruction" as world leaders reacted with widespread condemnation to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

       Joe Biden, the US President, denounced Russia's actions as an "unprovoked and unjustified attack", declaring "the world will hold Russia accountable".

       Mr Biden said in a statement: "The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces.

       President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said her thoughts were with the people of Ukraine "in these dark hours" and that Russia would be held accountable for its actions.

       Take a look at how the world reacted as it woke up

       MPs from across the Commons have sent expressed their solidarity with Ukraine in the face of Vladimir Putin's unprovoked and full-scale military invasion.

       "The news from Ukraine today is devastating," wrote Victoria Prentis, a Conservative environment minister. "As a family, we have many friends in Kyiv and have heard from one of them this morning who was woken up by a bomb. We’re really thinking of all the Ukrainian people at this dreadful time."

       Nadia Whittome, the Labour MP for Nottingham East, described the "unprovoked invasion [as] devastating news" and urged the Government to implement tougher sanctions and ending Russian money laundering in the UK.

       George Freeman, the science minister, said it was a "terrible" day for the world.

       "Ukraine pays the ultimate price today but we’re all less secure as Russia and China decide to exploit a generation of Western weakness and division," he wrote.

       Imperialism, war, irrationality, disease and economic dislocation: modernity is ending as it began, writes Allister Heath.

       Vladimir Putin’s monstrous expansionism is the latest, terrifying reminder that human progress is far from inevitable, and that our wealth and technological advances rest on a set of extraordinarily fragile foundations.

       It is hard to be bullish about the next few years. As the 2020s progress, it will become obvious that our civilisation relied on a series of increasingly invalid assumptions.

       That genuine, destructive wars are unthinkable between major economies; that real incomes are on a permanent upwards trajectory, powered by globalisation; that technology necessarily empowers individuals; that deadly pandemics are a thing of the past, and biowarfare unimaginable; that our ever-more woke Western elites still believe in liberty, popular democracy and the rule of law.

       Allister Heath: There are no easy answers

       Pat McFadden, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, views events today as a "big test for the West".

       "No one wants a shooting war with the Russians," he told Sky. "No-one wants a military confrontation.

       "But that poses the question - what does having maximum sanctions mean? The response the other day to sanction three people looks even more pathetic now than it did earlier in the week."

       The shadow foreign secretary condemned Vladimir Putin's "tyrannical assault on freedom, democracy and self-determination".

       "The world must unite in condemnation of Putin's war of aggression," David Lammy wrote on social media.

       "We must respond with the severest sanctions, ending Putin's influence in the UK and urgent humanitarian support for the Ukrainian people."

       The cost-of-living crisis will be "driven by war", the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee said.

       "The decisions made around Europe are absolutely going to shape the way Vladimir Putin sees this," Tom Tugendhat told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

       "The reality is that if we leave this to stand, if we let this pass, you can forget about petrol at ￡1.70 a litre, which is where it's heading now. It will be significantly higher.

       "Ten per cent of the world's wheat is grown in Ukraine and the idea that this year's going to be a good crop, I'm afraid, is for the birds. This is absolutely one of those moments where we're going to see the cost-of-living crisis driven by war."

       Mr Tugendhat highlighted Russians are "still flying using planes with Rolls Royce and General Electric engines... that money still needs to be transferred."

       Diplomatic chiefs called on Vladimir Putin to stop the Ukraine war "in the name of humanity" this morning.

       Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary-General of Nato, said Russia's actions are a grave breach of international law.

       He said the reckless attack represents a serious threat to transatlantic security ahead of a meeting of Nato member states to determine their response.

       Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, said in comments directed at President Putin: "In the name of humanity, bring your troops back to Russia."

       Like any guest with ￡18billion to spend, Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov has had little problem making a comfortable second home for himself in Britain, writes Colin Freeman.

       Or, to be precise, two second homes – the metals tycoon divides his time between Beechwood House, a ￡50million mansion in north London, and Sutton Place, a Tudor pile in Surrey once owned by Jean Paul Getty.

       Yet like many of the Russian billionaires with boltholes in so-called "Londongrad", he seems equally comfortable with life back in Vladimir Putin’s Moscow, where the Russian leader is a personal acquaintance. As he once told Forbes magazine: “I am proud that I know Putin, and the fact that everybody does not like him is not Putin’s problem.”

       Usmanov is not alone. According to Russian opposition groups, there are between 30 and 50 oligarchs with links to the Kremlin who spend at least part of their time living the high-life in Britain. Their billions have, for more than two decades, helped fuel a boom in private school fees and property prices across the capital and beyond.

       Law firms, auditors, architects and building firms have grown rich on their custom. Extravagant restaurants, boutiques, supercar showrooms and nightspots owe their very existence to them.

       The Russian gravy train may be coming to a stop

       What we are seeing constitutes the "darkest hour in European history for the last 70 years", says Mark Voyger, a senior fellow at the Centre for European Analysis.

       He points out that Vladimir Putin has made his intentions "quite clear" - and for almost a decade, he has been "trying to destroy the sovereignty of Ukraine".

       "What Putin really wants is a Ukraine that doesn't turn to the West, that follows Moscow's orders - effectively, a de facto puppet republic of the Russian Federation."

       A full-blown war between Russia and Ukraine has begun, with Vladimir Putin launching a "military operation" in Ukraine this morning, writes Robert Mendick, our Chief Reporter. How it will unfold now, however, is unclear.

       With up to 190,000 Russian troops massed on Ukraine’s borders and an additional 15,000 Russian-backed separatists in the occupied Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, Putin gave the order to invade overnight. The prospects now are grim. A full-scale war would be the bloodiest on European soil since the Second World War.

       The Kremlin hoped to sever Ukraine’s communications connections to the outside world, jamming mobile phone signals and launching a cyber attack on its internet services. It will also try to disrupt internal communications within the Ukraine military to devastating effect.

       Stalin called artillery the "God of War". The Kremlin still loves its artillery and Russia had been expected to launch wave after wave of mostly unguided long-range missile strikes prior to any ground assault.

       Russia 'may be unable to avoid sustained conflict'

       Sir Keir Starmer has branded Vladimir Putin's attack on Ukraine "unprovoked and unjustifiable".

       The Labour leader said: "His actions will have horrendous and tragic consequences that will echo throughout the world and throughout history. All those who believe in the triumph of democracy over dictatorship, good over evil, freedom over the jackboot of tyranny must now support the Ukrainian people.

       "They have been cast onto the frontline of a war, simply for existing. There can be no space for equivocation when faced with the evil that Putin has unleashed. His actions pose a grave threat to the international order on which we all depend."

       Sir Keir said that while there will be "dark days ahead", Putin "will learn the same lesson as Europe's tyrants of the last century - that the resolve of the world is harder than he imagines and the desire for liberty burns stronger than ever. That light will prevail."

       Britain must now "match our rhetoric with action" and implement the "hardest possible sanctions... against all those linked to Putin", Sir Keir said, calling for those "who have for too long turned a blind eye to Russia's actions [to] reckon with their own consciences".

       The sanctions packages will be announced "in waves" including some later on today, a foreign minister has confirmed, with further details in the coming days.

       Asked why the sanctions unveiled earlier this week did not work in stopping the invasion of Ukraine, James Cleverly said it was "in part a deterrence package" aligned across the international community.

       "As you say, Vladimir Putin has ignored that, although the people around him will already be feeling the pain of those sanctions," he said in an interview with BBC Breakfast.

       "But now we're in a situation where the sanctions are going to be punitive. They are designed [to] - and they will over time - put real pressure on the Russian economy and make it increasingly difficult to fund this military aggression.

       "What he has done is a catastrophic error. It will be incredibly painful not just for the people of Ukraine, but it will cost Russian lives."

       Boris Johnson is currently chairing a Cobra meeting and is expected to unveil fresh sanctions in the wake of events overnight.

       This is what the Prime Minister said this morning:

       President Putin is "trying to recreate a Russian empire", foreign minister James Cleverly said in the last few minutes.

       "He is trying to recreate a Russian empire, in his mind claiming back places which he defines as Russia but the international community recognises that there are individual sovereign states. Ukraine is not part of Russia and the fantasy that Vladimir Putin is trying to play out in recreating some kind of Tsarist expansionist Russia absolutely has to be stopped."

       The military leaders around President Putin "must know that this is a catastrophically bad judgment call", Mr Cleverly told Sky News.

       "Ukraine is a huge country physically, I have no doubt the Ukrainian people will be ferocious in defence of their homeland and the military leaders must know that this will come at a huge cost not just to Ukrainians but to Russians.

       "They are in a position to stop this and we call upon them to do so. We will of course give support to the Ukrainians in their own self-defence, we will of course support the Ukrainians in defending themselves. The solidarity of Nato is unwavering and that’s why the UK and indeed other Nato member states have been moving troops to our eastern Nato allies."

       Russia will now be hit by an "unprecedented" package of sanctions from the UK and its allies, a Foreign Office minister has promised.

       James Cleverly pointed to the "meaningful impact" of the rouble collapsing on Russian markets and said that even if Vladimir Putin "doesn't care" about the imminent sanctions, "the people around him absolutely will care".

       "Sadly what we’re seeing is the situation in Ukraine playing out unfortunately as we feared it might and we predicted it would.

       "Vladimir Putin has used disinformation, he’s used lies, he’s used false flag activities to justify the unjustifiable which is an invasion of Ukraine.

       "In response to this, the UK will in close alignment with our international partners bring forward an unprecedented levels of sanctions to punish this aggression and to hopefully persuade the people around Vladimir Putin that this is completely the wrong thing to do and that he should reverse this attack.

       "We stand, we continue to stand, shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ukrainian people."

       Airlines carrying British passengers have been asked to avoid Ukrainian airspace, Grant Shapps said this morning.

       "Following the horrific events overnight in Ukraine, I’ve instructed the Civil Aviation Authority to ensure airlines avoid Ukraine airspace to keep passengers and crew safe," the Transport Secretary wrote.

       "We continue to stand with the people of Ukraine and work with our international partners to respond to this act of aggression."

       Good morning.

       As Britain wakes up to a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Boris Johnson said President Vladimir Putin has "chosen a path of bloodshed and destruction".

       We'll have all the latest news, reaction and analysis throughout the day.

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