The UK is poised to send more money and troops to NATO’s Eastern flank in the Baltic states - but won’t enter Ukraine or set up a no-fly zone.
Armed Forces Minister James Heappey restated an earlier announcement to send around 900 more British troops to eastern Europe as he said more commitments could come soon.
Britain leads the battlegroup in Estonia and was due soon to have around 1,800 troops there, after it promised to double the number of UK forces in the country. Britain also has 140 troops in Poland.
“Further contributions are under consideration,” he told the House of Commons.
“The UK is already the second largest contributor in terms of the surge forces that have come forward, second only to the US.
“But we’re clear we may need to provide more both in land, sea and air - and we will do, if other NATO allies are unable to respond at the pace we could.”
He added 1,000 UK troops that are on standby for humanitarian support in countries near Ukraine will be deployed “at hours’ notice” as and when needed.
But Mr Heappey said British troops must not deploy in Ukraine due to the risk of an “existential” escalation against nuclear-armed Russia.
“British and NATO troops should not and must not play an active role in Ukraine. We must all be clear what the risks of miscalculation could be, and how existential that could very quickly become if people miscalculate and things escalate unnecessarily,” he said.
He also rebuffed pleas for the UK to enforce a no-fly zone, saying would be “somewhat difficult to implement” due to the same issue but with pilots “flying at well over the speed of sound”.
He warned it could “trigger an Article 5 moment” with NATO allies having to enter combat with Russia.
But Tory MP Peter Bone said: "The Ukraine ambassador to the United Kingdom has asked for us and our allies to institute a no-fly zone of Ukraine. As the ambassador said, people are dying as we speak.
"This action will be a significant and a real help for the people of Ukraine."
Britain is offering further military support to the Ukrainians, Mr Heappey suggested, but said details cannot be shared with Parliament as they are “operationally sensitive”.
No10 said the UK had contributed armour and anti-tank weaponry. Britain has also sent lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine.
Mr Heappey told the House of Commons: “Yesterday, British RAF Tornado jets took part in NATO air policing from their base in RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, from where they patrol over the Black Sea and south-eastern Europe.
“HMS Trent is part of already a NATO standing maritime group. There are further Royal Navy ships being deployed to other NATO standing groups both in the Baltic and in the Eastern Mediterranean.
“In addition to the Royal Tank Regiment battle group that has been in place in Estonia for the last six months, the Royal Welsh battlegroup will be arriving in Estonia earlier than planned to double up our force levels. And those doubled-up force levels remain indefinitely.
“They will be augmented by the headquarters of 12 mechanised brigade, meaning the UK will have an armoured brigade in Estonia reassuring one of our closest NATO allies.”
In a full-scale invasion by land, air and sea, Ukraine has already lost the strategic Chernobyl nuclear site and there was fighting at Hostomel airport outside Kyiv, though Ukraine said it was later recaptured.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Facebook that he has been targeted as “enemy number one” as he ordered all males aged 18 to 60 to conscript in the Army and forbade them from leaving the country.
Boris Johnson told President Zelensky “the world is united in its horror” in a call this morning.
In a Cabinet meeting last night, the UK Prime Minister said it was a “dark day in the history of our continent, with Putin launching a cynical and brutal invasion for his own vainglorious ends.”
Western officials believe Russia intends to seize and control a very large section of Ukraine - including the capital Kiev - and will need ground troops to do so.
Mr Heappey added: “NATO has had for the past 10 years or so a network of Enhanced Forward Presence battlegroups, the UK is in Estonia. Those are all being reinforced and new forward presence battlegroups are being put in place.
“If the aim of what is going on right now is not just territorial gain in Ukraine but to push NATO away from Russia, President Putin is achieving precisely the opposite, because NATO is drawing the line around NATO countries ever thicker and ever stronger.
“In the Ministry of Defence we are quickly considering whether the threat has changed and whether more money is required.”
Mr Heappey said the “artillery barrage” of Kharkiv “looked like hell on earth, and it was pretty hard not to pray before you went to sleep.”
The ex-soldier told the UK Parliament: “As the world has now seen the intelligence available to the British and American governments over recent weeks has proven to be entirely accurate.
“This allows us to assess that the Russians have failed to achieve any of their planned objectives for the first day of combat operations.”
He added: “This is an outrage against international law, violating Ukrainian sovereignty and brings a profound change to the security landscape.”
Mr Heappey told MPs “Ukrainian forces have stood their ground heroically, forcing fierce fighting around several Ukrainian cities” and retaking an airfield near Ukraine.
He said the Ukrainian forces claim to have shot down six fixed wing aircraft, and seven helicopters.
But he quoted reports that 137 Ukrainian troops and 57 civilians have been killed with hundreds more injured, and that 450 Russian service personnel have been killed in action.
A No10 spokesman said he was “not aware of” any plans to recall Parliament this weekend to impose further sanctions, but did not completely rule it out.
No10 confirmed there will be a £50,000 limit on the amount wealthy Russians can hold in UK bank accounts.
But a spokesman was unable to confirm when the measure will become law, or whether the £50k limit would be per person or per bank account.
