Invasion of Ukraine by Russia has begun, says UK minister; Boris Johnson chairs emergency meeting

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is chairing an emergency meeting of the Cabinet Office Briefing Room A COBRA on Tuesday morning as the UK plans further sanctions on Moscow following Russian President Vladimir Putins decision to recognise two breakaway regions in eastern UkraineThe meeting comes as UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said given that tanks have been seen near one of those regions of Donetsk it can be concluded that the ldquoinvasion of Ukraine has begunThe COBRA meeting follows widespread condemnation of Russias move which Johnson termed a violation of international law and an ill omen and very dark time declaring that things are moving in the wrong direction in the regionDowning Street said the COBRA meeting would discuss the latest developments in Ukraine and coordinate the UK response including agreeing a significant package of sanctions to be introduced immediatelyldquoThe United Kingdom will be announcing new sanctions on Russia in response to its breach of international law and attack on Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity There will be severe economic consequences to its actionsrdquo UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward told an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting on UkraineldquoThis Council must be united in calling on Russia to deescalate immediately condemning aggression against a sovereign nation and defending the territorial integrity of Ukraine calling on Russia to respect its obligations under the Charter to the peaceful resolution of disputes Russia has brought us to the brink We urge Russia to step backrdquo she saidUK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss confirmed that sanctions are in the works which will use recent legislation to impose restrictions on people and organisations linked to RussiaThe UK governments crisis response meetings are held in the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms and are most commonly take place in Briefing Room A leading to them being referred to as CobraEarlier this month the UK government passed new legislation that expanded its powers to impose sanctions on those directly linked to Russian actions in UkraineThe legislation gave the government powers to impose sanctions on Russian businesses and individuals in strategically significant sectors such as the chemical defence extractives Information and communication technologies ICT and financial services industriesSeveral of the UKs western allies including the US France and the European Union made similar statements condemning Putins move and promising sanctionsOn Monday evening Johnson spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to outline his grave concern and warn that he believed an invasion was a real possibility in the iquestcoming hours and daysiquest During the phone call Johnson promised to explore sending further defensive support to Ukraine at the request of the countrys government as well as detailing sanctionsldquoThe leaders agreed that the West needed to support Ukraine in the event of an invasion but should continue to pursue a diplomatic solution until the last possible secondrdquo Downing Street saidldquoRegardless of President Putins actions the UK would be steadfast in its full support of Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity the Prime Minister saidrdquo it addedOn Monday Putins actions were classed as an escalation of conflict in the region as he signed a decree recognising the independence of the selfdeclared peoples republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern UkraineRussianbacked rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces in those regions since 2014 and the fears are that military forces could cross Ukraines borders to occupy the rebel regions recognised by Russia Putin claims the troops heading into the two rebel regions will be completing ldquopeacekeepingrdquo functionsRussias ambassador to the UN said the country was open to diplomatic solutions but also repeated Putins accusations blaming Ukraine for escalating aggressions Ukraine has strongly denied this and declared that it was not afraid and would not yield to RussiaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever