Boris Johnson is "desperate" to go to war-torn Ukraine and see "what is happening to people on the ground", top Tory Oliver Dowden has said.
Speaking to Andrew Marr on LBC Radio, the Conservative Party chairman was asked about reports in the Daily Mail suggesting British security services are "having kittens" because Prime Minister wants to go to Kyiv.
The country's capital is under constant attack from Vladimir Putin's Russia, with citizens regularly dashing for cover at the sound of air raid sirens.
But Mr Dowden said the PM felt "a real emotional connection" with Ukrainians, who he claimed were shouting "God Save The Queen" as they fired bazookas because of Britain's support for the war effort against Russia.
When asked about reports Mr Johnson could be planning a visit, the Tory chair said: "I think the Prime Minister is desperate to go to Ukraine and has throughout this conflict felt, as British people have done, a real emotional connection with the suffering of the Ukrainian people and the need for the West to unite in standing up to this threat from Russia which is has been been exposed in Ukraine.
"And actually, for example, with the bazookas that are currently being fired in Ukraine, people are saying, God Save the Queen because they know that as it was the British that were leading that effort in doing so."
Boris Johnson is in regular contact with Ukrainian President Vvolodymyr Zelensky.
When asked what benefit there would be in the Prime Minister going to Ukraine, Mr Dowden said: "Well, I think it's it's both to see what's going on on the ground, because it's very different talking somebody on the phone versus actually seeing it in practice.
"And by the way, I should say that no decisions have been taken in relation to this.
"But then secondly, it's actually to experience what is happening there, to see what is happening to the people on the ground. I think that is very different to just speaking remotely."
The news came as Ukraine refused to give up the besieged city of Mariupol, saying there will be "no talk of any surrender".
Russian forces also targeted the port city of Odessa for the first time and attacks on Kyiv intensified.
And in the UK, Downing Street confirmed that Moscow was behind three hoax calls to Tory ministers as Putin made to spread "disinformation".
