Since Russia invaded Ukraine two weeks ago more than two million people have fled their homes, according to estimates from the United Nations.
The Government bowed to pressure over the speed of its response to helping Ukrainian refugees, with an online visa application system starting this week.
Western officials, and even the Prime Minister have expressed growing concern that Vladimir Putin is prepared to use chemical weapons in Ukraine.
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky, who has faced a number of assassination attempts, has said he is no longer pressing for Nato membership for Ukraine but made a historic address in the House of Commons.
While the Prime Minister's poll ratings have slightly recovered since the Mirror first published stories on Downing Street lockdown parties, the Government appear to have used the crisis as a time to announce a number of controversial decisions.
Here are five things the Tories have snuck out or have been forced to reveal since Russia invaded Ukraine....
Gavin Williamson's knighthood
Gavin Williamson, the gaffe-prone Tory who presided over the Covid exams chaos and was sacked by Theresa May as Defence Secretary, was handed the top gong, No10 confirmed.
Ex-No10 chief of staff Gavin Barwell also claimed last year that Mr Williamson had vowed to unleash “the world’s biggest s**tshow” on the Government when he was fighting for his job as Defence Secretary in 2019.
Mr Williamson was sacked as Education Secretary in Boris Johnson's last reshuffle after coming under intense criticism over his handling of the education brief during the pandemic.
He came under fire for the 2020 exams chaos and repeated U-turns over free school meals policy, which saw the Government shamed into feeding children over the holidays by footballer Marcus Rashford.
He then hit the headlines in September by confusing Rashford with another black sportsman, the rugby player Maro Itoje.
Graduates to pay £28,000 more after student loan shake-up
Poorer graduates face paying £28,000 more over their lifetimes under a major Tory shake-up of student loans.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned that Brits on below average incomes would lose out on a higher chunk of their earnings due to changes to student finance rules.
Students starting university next year will begin paying off their loans when they earn more than £25,000 - down from the existing £27,295-a-year threshold.
And the length of time to repay their debt will be extended to 40 years, up from 30. This means some people will still be making repayments into their 60s.
The IFS believes those on lower middle incomes will pay back £28,000 more after revising its estimates in line with inflation rather than average earnings.
The reforms would mean that more than half (52%) of students who take out a loan would repay this in full, compared to 25% currently estimated.
Tuition fees will be capped at £9,250 for a further two years, while student loan interest rates will be set no higher than the rate of inflation from 2023/24.
But the Government quietly rejected the report's key call to slash tuition fees to £7,500-a-year.
Terms of reference for the Covid inquiry
The Government has finally published its draft terms of reference for the public inquiry into their handling of the Covid pandemic.
Boris Johnson announced an inquiry last year after fury at his slow decisions to lock down, which scientists believe cost lives.
Retired judge Lady Hallett is set to examine the public health response, how decisions were made, the economic response including the furlough scheme, the procurement of personal protective equipment and even the closure of schools.
But the draft Terms of Reference do not name Boris Johnson or promise to look at the individual behaviour of the Prime Minister.
That could come as a blow to bereaved families after ex-aide Dominic Cummings accused him of a litany of failings.
Becky Kummer, spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said: “The inquiry is a one off and historic opportunity for the terrible suffering and loss of the past two years to be learned from, to ensure these tragedies are not repeated in the future.
“The Government finally publishing the draft Terms of Reference is a huge step forward, and we look forward to feeding into the consultation on them.
“Sadly, today’s announcement comes far too late. We will never know how many lives could have been saved had the Government had a rapid review phase in Summer 2020, as we called for at the time."
Teachers' pay
Government proposals to hike salaries for experienced teachers by 3% in 2022/23 and 2% the next year would amount to a pay cut for most staff, teaching unions said.
The plans, set out in the official response to the pay review body, would also see new teachers salaries boosted to £30,000-a-year by 2023/24, in line with a Tory manifesto commitment.
But the union leaders warned that the plans amounted to "another significant real-terms pay cut for most teachers" once inflation rates are taken into account.
Brits are facing a spiralling cost of living crisis, with inflation rising to 5.5% in January.
Public sector pay rises were put on hold in 2021/22 for all staff except NHS workers and those who earned less than £24,000 due to heavy borrowing during the pandemic.
Unused PPE bought during Covid will be burned
The Government is planning to burn mountains of unusable personal protective equipment bought during the Covid pandemic, MPs have been told.
A top Department of Health official said the plan was designed to find some function for 5.5 billion pieces of faulty or low quality kit that the NHS cannot use.
Around £8.7 billion spent by the Government on useless protective gear was written off by the Government, accounts for 2020/21 revealed last month.
Some £673 million worth of equipment was found to be totally unusable, and £750 million was spent on items that were not used before their expiry date.
Officials are now planning to ship off around 15,000 pallets of wasted PPE to power plants to burn each month - around 576 lorryloads of kit.
Rishi Sunak - Partygate questionnaire
Rishi Sunak joined the list of more than 50 people to receive a questionnaire from the Met Police to explain any involvement in gatherings at Downing Street.
It is understood the Chancellor received the form, which needed to be returned within seven days as requested by Scotland Yard.
The Met is looking into 12 alleged gatherings held across Whitehall and Downing Street during lockdown rules under Operation Hillman.
Mr Sunak previously confirmed he was at Boris Johnson's birthday do, held by No10 staff and the PM’s wife Carrie on June 19, 2020.
But he insisted he had been present at the Cabinet Room for a routine meeting to discuss Covid.
Earlier this month, he appeared to suggest he was not expecting to receive a form to complete.
Asked on Sky News earlier this month if he expected to receive a form, he replied: "No... well, I don't know."
