Boris Johnson criticizes Putin as ‘disgusting’ and vows more sanctions on Russia as Ukraine ambassador gets a standing ovation

BORIS Johnson today criticized Vladimir Putin’s “disgusting” invasion of Ukraine and vowed to impose further sanctions on Russia.

The Prime Minister vowed more weapons and support for Kyiv as the country’s ambassador received a rare standing ovation from MPs.

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He vowed: “The deputy minister is tightening the Putin regime and it will continue to tighten.”

The Prime Minister told MPs: “Putin has made a grave miscalculation in his heinous attack on a sovereign state.

“He underestimated the extraordinary courage of the Ukrainian people and the unity and determination of the free world in his fight against barbarism.

“If Putin doubles, so do we, increasing economic pressure and supporting Ukraine with finance, weapons and humanitarian assistance.”

Boris announced the Government is launching a new Ukraine aid fund and will match every £1 donation, starting with £20 million.

Sir Keir Starmer welcomes the sanctions but urges the Prime Minister to go further stop Moscow with sanctions and provide armor.

Labor has backed the Government’s tough stance on knocking down Russian banks and businesses in a rare unity.

The exchange came after Defense Minister Ben Wallace warned the increasingly frustrated Kremlin was getting ready switch to more barbaric tactics.

Putin’s forces failed “significantly behind schedule” and failed to capture any major cities nearly a week after they launched the invasion.

They were stopped by the brave resistance of the Ukrainians and the bad plan that the Russian army began to run out of food and fuel.

Kyiv’s fighters, armed with top-tier British and allied weapons, say they inflicted heavy casualties on the invaders.

The Defense Ministry said it killed or captured nearly 6,000 soldiers as well as downed 30 planes, 31 helicopters and 211 tanks.

Meanwhile the Kremlin is becoming more desperate than ever to win as Western sanctions hit the country’s economy, which is shrinking at a record pace.

Ruble over 40% off in just a few daysinterest rates have doubled to 20%, and the Russian middle class is scrambling to get out.

Mr. Wallace said the sanctions on destruction partly explain why the Russian military on the ground is struggling to achieve any of its main goals.

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“The international community has shown that they are very angry with what is happening, both economically and from a military point of view,” he said.

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“Those two things are one of the reasons why we see Russian forces moving so slowly in their goals. It’s significantly slower than planned.

“They’re taking casualties and they’re finding that things are moving very slowly. They’re not making progress with a foresight compared to what they had hoped for.”

Mr Wallace, a former captain of the Scots Guards, said that the Russian generals were “arrogant” about how quickly they could take over Ukraine.

And he warned that once “bogged down” they could resort to targeting civilians to try and terrorize the country into submission.

Defense Sec said: “The Russians suffered significant casualties, more than they expected.

“There’s a lot of low morale in the Russian forces, we’ve seen a lot of people surrender.

“So what they’re doing is trying to switch tactics. They’re not going to the cities as much.

“As we have seen, they will carpet the city indiscriminately. They will fly at night, not during the day.

“And they’ll try and slowly but surely surround the cities and ignore or bombard them. That’s the brutality we’re seeing and it’s only going to get worse.”

‘YEAR OF RESISTANCE’

He said the Russians would “try and break the people, which they won’t do because the Ukrainians are tough”.

And he warned the Kremlin that even if it captured Kyiv, it would have to “consider the years of Ukrainian resistance”.

Britain and the United States both warned Moscow that the war could last up to two decades and cause massive casualties.

Mr. Wallace also suggested that the brutal dictator would face increasingly the problem of controlling his people at home.

He said that Putin “obviously doesn’t really care” about crippling economic sanctions but that ordinary Russians don’t want to live like North Koreans.

And he added: “When I went to Russia, they were very clear that the Russian people could suffer more than I did, that we could not be harmed by the sanctions.

“There’s certainly a sense of pride that somehow Russia’s suffering is on par with Russia’s leadership.

“He’s about to be shocked because this is the 21st Century and the Russian people don’t want to go through what they’re about to go through.”