Ukraine Crisis: 'Putin could commit atrocities in UK if Ukrainians do not see victory', says Arseniy Yatsenyuk

The former Prime Minister of Ukraine says Vladimir Putin could go on to commit atrocities in the UK if Ukraine does not see a victory against “the Nazi-style dictator”.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk, former Prime Minister of Ukraine, spoke on the radio as more than 1.5m people have now fled Ukraine into neighbouring countries, according to the UN.

It comes after Russian president Vladimir Putin began an invasion of Ukraine on February 24, sparking a humanitarian crisis.

Talking about the current situation in Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, former Prime Minister of Ukraine told BBC’s The Sunday Show: “It’s a huge tragedy and a real disaster what this criminal of war has done to my country and my people.

Ukraine’s interim prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said the UK could face atrocities from Vladimir Putin if Ukraine faces defeat at the hands of the Russian president.

“This is a humanitarian crisis. People are leaving the country, there are huge crowds of refugees, he’s shelling hospitals, he’s shelling schools.”

To prevent Putin committing atrocities in the UK and other countries, the former Ukrainian Prime Minister said the only option left is a victory for Ukraine.

He said: "This is the victory of Ukraine and this is the victory of the free world.

"We have to defend our country, we have to defend our people and we are defending you and our joint common values.

"Otherwise, Putin will go further. His idea is to invade eastern Europe. His idea is to commit atrocities and crimes in the UK and in different countries. His idea is to undermine the free world.”

Mr Yatsenyuk, who was prime minister from 2014 to 2016, said the Ukrainian military “stands firm” and Vladimir Put “did not get what he expected”.

He said: “We are fighting like hell against this Nazi-style dictator who is Putin.”

Although a introducing a no-fly zone would be “great”, Mr Yatsenyuk accepted if this was not an option then further help would be needed from allies.

He said: "We urgently need to deliver fighter jets, anti-missile weaponry, anti- aircraft missiles in order to fight against Putin.”

He urged the UK public not to buy Russian goods, oil and gas and get rid of Russian assets.

His call comes as payment giants Mastercard and Visa are suspending operations in Russia.

Mr Yatsenyuk said: "Press on Putin, Russia and on Russian people. Russian people have to realise that they need to bear the brunt and pay the price for supporting Putin who is killing innocent Ukrainians.

"We need the Russian people to realise this is their fault that Putin is in the Kremlin and Putin is invading independent countries.”

Meanwhile, Dominic Raab has suggested support would be undermined for Ukraine if the UK let refugees in without visas.

The Justice Secretary was asked on the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme about reports that 150 Ukrainian refugees had been turned away at Calais because they did not have a valid visa.

He said: “Look, if we just open the door not only will we not benefit the people that we need to, the genuine refugees, but I think we undermine the popular support for this very thing, so I don’t think that’s the right thing to do. We need to make sure that we’re acting for those that need our support.”

Mr Raab said he expected up to 200,000 Ukrainians could come to the UK through the family dependents route and that “the humanitarian route, that is uncapped”.

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