Russian forces take control of Chernobyl as Boris Johnson warns of attempt 'to redraw the map of Europe in blood'

After an all-out attack on Ukraine began in the early hours of Thursday morning, Mr Johnson told Parliament tonight: “It is vital for the safety of every nation that Putin’s squalid venture must fail and be seen to fail.

“However long it takes, that will be the steadfast and unflinching goal of the United Kingdom.

“We have a clear mission diplomatically, politically, economically and eventually, militarily.

“This hideous and barbarous venture of Vladimir Putin must end in failure.”

The invasion has seen dozens of strikes at Ukrainian cities and military bases, while Russian ground forces advanced across the border from at least three points.

Ukrainian officials said their forces were battling Russians on multiple fronts, and had lost control of the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

Hours after the invasion began, Russian forces seized control of the zone around the now-unused Chernobyl plant after a fierce battle, an adviser to the Ukrainian president told The Associated Press.

A Ukrainian official said Russian shelling hit a radioactive waste repository and an increase in radiation levels was reported. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

A nuclear reactor at the plant 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, exploded in 1986, sending a radioactive cloud across Europe. The damaged reactor was covered by a protective shelter several years ago to prevent radiation leaks.

In terms of the wider conflict, the UK's Ministry of Defence said the Ukrainian armed forces “have put up a staunch resistance and continue to hold key cities” and that there had been “heavy casualties” on both sides.

Mr Johnson said he was sanctioning “all the major manufacturers that support Putin’s war machine”, will imminently ban Aeroflot from touching down planes in the UK and will freeze the assets of all major Russian banks, including immediately against VTB.

“Putin will stand condemned in the eyes of the world and of history. He will never be able to cleanse the blood of Ukraine from his hands,” the Prime Minister said. “Now we see him for what he is – a bloodstained aggressor who believes in imperial conquest.”

Mr Johnson said Putin had offered an “absurd pretext” for the invasion on the false grounds he was seeking the “demilitarisation and de-Nazification” of Ukraine.

The Prime Minister said fellow G7 members had committed to “maximise the economic price that Putin will pay for his aggression”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “This must be a turning point in history. We must look back and say that this terrible day was actually when Putin doomed himself and doomed his plan to reassert Russian force as a means of controlling Eastern Europe to defeat.”

But the Labour leader also added the UK must be braced for “difficulties” as it feels repercussions from sanctions against Russia.

“We will see economic pain as we free Europe from dependence on Russian gas and clean our institutions from money stolen from the Russian people.

But the British public have always been willing to make sacrifice to defend democracy on our continent and we will again. The consequences of Putin’s actions will be felt for years.”

Former Prime Minister Theresa May called on the Government to introduce “every possible economic sanction so that Russia feels absolutely the cold wind of isolation”.

It came as Viacheslav Semeniuk, 39, who was born in Ukraine but now lives in Seacroft in Leeds, said that he fears for the safety of his parents who live in Vinnytsia, in west-central Ukraine. But he added they have no plans to leave their nation.

“This is their land. Why should they leave? They are 65 years old but they can drive, they can cook, they can shoot if it gets to it.”