Ukraine conflict: UK imposes further sanctions on Russia

The UK has imposed further sanctions on prominent Russians, including media figures and military leaders.

The latest names added to the sanctions list include propagandist Sergey Brilev and Kremlin funded TV-Novosti, which owns the RT news channel.

Aleksandr Zharov, chief executive of Gazprom-Media, Alexey Nikolov the managing director of RT and Anton Anisimov, the head of Sputnik International Broadcasting were also sanctioned.

Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, dubbed “the butcher of Mariupol”, is also among the 14 new additions to the sanctions list.

A woman with two children and carrying bags walk on a street to leave Ukraine after crossing the Slovak-Ukrainian border. The UK has imposed further sanctions on prominent Russians, including media figures and military leaders.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “Putin’s war on Ukraine is based on a torrent of lies. Britain has helped lead the world in exposing Kremlin disinformation, and this latest batch of sanctions hits the shameless propagandists who push out Putin’s fake news and narratives.

“We will keep on going with more sanctions to ramp up the pressure on Russia and ensure Putin loses in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is off the table.”

Earlier today, the head of the GCHQ intelligence agency, Sir Jeremy Fleming, used a rare public speech to say it is clear that Mr Putin “misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people”.

“He under-estimated the strength of the coalition his actions would galvanise. He underplayed the economic consequences of the sanctions regime. He over-estimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory,” Sir Jeremy said in a speech in Australia.

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“We’ve seen Russian soldiers – short of weapons and morale – refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment, and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.

“And even though we believe Putin’s advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what’s going on and the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime.”

His comments were echoed in the White House, where US President Joe Biden’s director of communications, Kate Bedingfield, said: “We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions because his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth.”

Talks between Ukraine and Russia are set to resume Friday by video.