Britain 'will lead world against Russia' as bombs rain on Kyiv

Zelensky blasts 'hypnotised Nato leaders as air assaults target more flats

- Nicholas Cecil and Will Stewart

BORIS JOHNSON condemned Vladimir Putin today for wreaking destruction in Europe on a scale not seen since the Forties as he vowed that Britain would continue to lead the international effort to support Ukraine.

Ahead of talks with leaders from the Joint Expeditionary Force, an alliance of northern European nations, the Prime Minister said the world "can and must do more". After the leaders, gathered at Lancaster House in central London, were addressed by Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky by video link, Mr. Johnson said: “This is a desperate, desperate moment. We must try to do more particularly to support you in protecting the Ukrainian people from bombardment by artillery and by aviation."

He added: “I hear your points very loud and clear about the economic sanctions that we need to tighten, where we need to go harder on the banks, on Swift."

Britain is seeking to drum up more funds to pay for more munitions for Ukrainian troops to resist the Russian invasion, which has caused devastation in cities on a scale not seen since the Second World War.

However, Mr. Zelensky expressed his frustration with Nato over the refusal to implement a no-fly zone as he addressed the European leaders in London.

He said Mr. Putin's invasion had undermined the European security infrastructure. Nato was "the strongest alliance in the world" but "some of the members of this alliance are hypnotized by Russian aggression.

"We hear a lot of conversations about the third world war, that allegedly it could start if Nato will close the Ukrainian sky for Russian missiles and planes and therefore the humanitarian no-fly zone was not yet established," he said.

“That allows the Russian army to bombard peaceful cities and blow up housing blocks and hospitals and schools.