Putin has already crossed ‘red line’ with his ‘barbarism’ in Ukraine, Boris Johnson says

Boris Johnson has said Vladimir Putin has already crossed a “red line” in his invasion of Ukraine, as he suggested the UK could target the Russian leader’s gold reserves.

Accusing the Kremlin of “war crimes” for the indiscriminate shelling of civilians, the prime minister also said Putin should appear before the International Criminal Court.

It comes as fresh estimates from Nato suggest that Russia has lost up to between 7,000 to 15,000 of its troops in four weeks of conflict so far – equivalent to the Soviet Union’s losses during a decade-long war in Afghanistan.

Speaking to LBC radio — ahead of the Nato summit in Brussels — Mr Johnson stressed that western allies must intensify pressure on Russia, saying: “We need do more.

“The point I’m going to make today is he’s already crossed a threshold of barbarism in the way he’s behaving.

“People talk about new red lines for chemical or biological, tactical nuclear weapons or whatever. For me, the red line already has been crossed. He’s bombing indiscriminately civilian centres, he’s causing huge numbers of causalities in wholly innocent populations.

The prime minister added: “I think it is certainly true — as Joe Biden has said — that the Russian war machine is already guilty of war crimes, and it is right Russia should now be before the International Court of Justice.

“President Putin should appear before the International Criminal Court. There is no question is what they are doing are war crimes.”

After the UK unveiled a new package of military support for Ukraine with 6,000 defensive missiles, the prime minister also said the government needed to do more economically.

“Can we do more to stop him [Putin] using his gold reserves, for instance, in addition his cash reserves. We need to do more to give the Ukrainians military support.”

“What can we do more to sanction Swift? And then we need to do more to give the Ukrainians military support.

“The big thing that has emerged in the last month – the huge fact that the world now knows – is that the Ukrainian people will fight for their country. They believe in their country, they love their country. They’re going to defend it.

“That was something we didn’t really know a month ago. It’s now absolutely clear. That’s changed geopolitics. It means that we have a duty to help them. We have a duty to help them protect themselves and their loved ones. And so the UK is stepping up again.”