Boris Johnson warns of ‘far reaching consequences’ of Russian invasion as more than 100,000 rush to take in Ukrainians

Boris Johnson has warned of the “far-reaching consequences” of Russia’s invasion as more than 100,000 people in Britain rushed to take in Ukrainians.

The Prime Minister will meet with leaders in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh today where he will urge allies to work together to ramp up the pressure on Russian president Vladimir Putin.

His visit comes as more than 100,000 people offered homes to Ukrainian refugees in the first few hours of a government scheme that allows families and individuals to bring them to the UK.

Mr Johnson will meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh days after the largest mass execution in the kingdom in modern history.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will head to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday

The leaders are expected to discuss efforts to improve energy security and reduce volatility in energy and food prices amid the cost-of-living crisis.

Speaking ahead of his trip, Mr Johnson said: “The brutal and unprovoked assault President Putin has unleashed on Ukraine will have far-reaching consequences for the world, well beyond Europe’s borders.

“The UK is building an international coalition to deal with the new reality we face. The world must wean itself off Russian hydrocarbons and starve Putin’s addiction to oil and gas.

“Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are key international partners in that effort. We will work with them to ensure regional security, support the humanitarian relief effort and stabilise global energy markets for the longer term.”

There were already warnings of the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation as the world emerged from the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic, but these have only worsened following Mr Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The economic sanctions in retaliation and the West’s attempt to wean itself off Russian oil and gas have raised ever graver concerns, with ministers now looking elsewhere for energy supplies, including in the oil-rich Gulf states.

Earlier Mr Johnson insisted the West had to “learn our lesson” to avoid being “blackmailed” by Mr Putin over oil and gas supplies.

Conservative MPs and human rights watchdogs have been among those calling for the Prime Minister to question the nations on their track records, with Saudi Arabia executing 81 people convicted of crimes ranging from killings to belonging to militant groups on Saturday.

In the absence of Mr Johnson, senior minister Dominic Raab will represent the UK Government at Prime Minister’s Questions.

The Prime Minister defended the trip amid criticism over working with a country involved in mass executions and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Mr Johnson said: “I think what the world is seeing is the return in Ukraine to the kind of brutality, the kind of absolutely indiscriminate bombing of civilian centres, of great cities that we last saw in the European continent 80 years ago. This is quite unbelievable what is happening now in our continent.

“We need to make sure that we build the strongest, widest possible coalition to ensure that Vladimir Putin does not succeed, that we wean ourselves off Russian hydrocarbons and that is what the UK is helping to do.”

Conservative MP Julian Lewis, who chairs Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, called on the Government to ensure that “in seeking to lessen our dependence upon one source of oil and gas, we do not end up creating a source dependency on another unreliable and sometimes hostile regime”.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky separately expressed his frustration with Nato over the refusal to implement a no-fly zone.

In a video call with the Prime Minister and representatives from Baltic and northern European countries, Mr Zelensky accused Nato of being “hypnotised” by Russia.

He said: “We hear a lot of conversations about the Third World War, that allegedly it could start if Nato will close the Ukrainian sky for Russian missiles and planes and, therefore, the humanitarian no-fly zone was not yet established.

“That allows the Russian army to bombard peaceful cities and blow up housing blocks and hospitals and schools."

The day also saw a further 370 Russian individuals and entities hit by UK sanctions that include asset freezes and travel bans, including Russia's former president Dmitry Medvedev and Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

A UK official, asked about the possibility of further sanctions if the situation in Ukraine worsens, said: “Absolutely, yes.

“We’ve always been clear that this is essentially a rolling process and I think what you find over time is the cumulative impact of the sanctions we’ve applied to date are really biting on the Russian economy and people around Putin.”

More family members of Russian oligarchs can expect to be targeted with sanctions, the official said.

The Kremlin also responded to new US sanctions by barring 13 Americans from entering Russia, including President Joe Biden.

In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced a 35-hour curfew for people in the capital after Russian air strikes hit a metro station and residential buildings overnight, killing four.

In the besieged city of Mariupol, some 2,000 cars were able to leave along a humanitarian evacuation route.

As key Ukrainian cities continued to be shelled into last night, Downing Street issued a statement after a meeting between Mr Johnson and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. The statement said the two leaders agreed the “abhorrent assault” on Ukraine unleashed by Mr Putin had “shifted European thinking”.

A No. 10 spokeswoman said: “The pair agreed that their two nations should further strengthen their work together on disinformation and said they looked forward to British and Swedish forces exercising together as part of JEF [Joint Expeditionary Force] in the coming months.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said it had been in contact with China about the conflict in Ukraine.

Asked about whether the UK Government was concerned about the possibility of Beijing providing Russia with weapons, the No. 10 spokesman said: “I can’t comment on other countries’ intelligence or the reporting of private diplomatic telegrams, but we call on China to play a positive, constructive role in putting pressure on Putin and his regime to withdraw.

It came as more than 100,000 households have registered an interest in opening up their homes to a Ukrainian refugee.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said it was a sign to the Ukrainian people of the level of support for them in the UK.

The spokesman said: “We have seen a huge response from the British public. The Prime Minister welcomes the generosity of the British people.

“We knew when we opened the scheme that there would be an outpouring of support, but the speed of the uptake and the strength of the interest in this is massively welcome and a sign to the Ukrainian people of the level of support there is for them.”

Tuesday also saw the Russian TV journalist who burst on to a live news programme to protest against the war fined 30,000 roubles – about £213 – for "organising an unsanctioned mass event".

According to the RIA news agency, a court found Marina Ovsyannikova guilty of flouting protest legislation.