'Heroic' Ukrainian forces and Russian anti-war protesters hailed as hundreds reported killed

Updating Parliament on Friday morning in response to an Urgent Question on the situation in Ukraine, Mr Heappey said the Russian invasion which began on Thursday morning is the largest military offensive seen in Europe since 1945.

He described it as "an outrage against international law."

Mr Heappey said: "The Ukrainian armed forces have stood their ground heroically, forcing fierce fighting around several Ukrainian cities.

"The Antonov 2 airfield north of Kyiv was taken by Russian airborne forces as part of the initial assault yesterday morning but has reportedly been retaken by Ukrainian forces overnight.

"As the world has now seen, the intelligence available to 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 said the Ukrainian armed forces claim to have shot down six fixed-wing aircraft and seven helicopters, with 450 Russian soldiers killed.

A total of 137 Ukrainian service personnel have also been killed in action, along with 57 civilians with hundreds more injured.

Mr Heappey said: "As a former soldier with a vivid experience of death on the battlefield seared forever in my mind, I take no satisfaction in reporting those numbers to the house nor do I propose we keep a score every day.

"These are the lives of innocent civilians and lives of the bravest and best of Russians and Ukrainians."

He said the "incredible fear and misery" being caused in Ukraine also highlighted the bravery of those who protested in Russia against the invasion.

"That is why I will also pay tribute to the protesters in Moscow, St Petersburg and other Russian cities who protested last night against this pointless loss of Russian life. President Putin and the kleptocrats that surround him have miscalculated badly.

"Young Russian men and women are needlessly losing their lives. The responsibility sits entirely with the Kremlin."

But Mr Heappey added that Nato troops must not enter Ukraine because of the “risk of miscalculation” leading to “existential” threat, a minister has said.

He said that the Government would “explore all that we can do to support the Ukrainians themselves over the next few days”.

He added: “But we must all in this House be clear that British and Nato troops should not, must not, play an active role in Ukraine.

“We must all be clear what the risk of miscalculation could be and how existential that could very quickly become if people miscalculate and things escalate unnecessarily.”

However, the UK will send further armed forces to Estonia “earlier than planned” to reinforce the Nato ally in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Heappey said: “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 that the United Kingdom will have an armoured brigade in Estonia reassuring one of our closest Nato allies.”

Shadow defence secretary John Healey pressed the Government on whether the UK will provide Ukraine with short-range handheld anti-tank missiles.

He said: “On Wednesday, the Prime Minister told the House the UK will be shortly providing a further package of military support to Ukraine. We understand the minister’s comments about detail, but has this further military assistance being provided?

“The minister knows he has Labour’s full support for this.”

Mr Healey said the “UK’s short-range handheld anti-tank missiles are working well”, adding: “He knows that the Ukrainians need more of these urgently to defend Kiev and their other cities. So, can he confirm that he is willing to go that bit further?”

Mr Healey concluded his remarks by saying: “We’ve taken peace and security in Europe for granted since the end of the Cold War. We can no longer do that.

“I fear that we will be dealing with the consequences of this Russian invasion now for years to come.”