Government accused of showing “lack of humanity” towards Ukrainian refugees

Footage coming out of Ukraine shows civilians fleeing their homes as shells land close by. A bombardment of Irpin, a town near Kyiv, has seen entirely residential areas made the focus of a Russian assault. Russian forces have been accused of dropping cluster bombs on schools and hospitals. A mother and her two children were among those killed by mortar fire as they fled along an evacuation route from the town. Russia has said it is opening new humanitarian corridors – but Red Cross operations director Dominik Stillhart explained this morning that there have only been agreements “in principle” so far, which have immediately broken down over imprecision as to the routes and who could use them. “How many families like this have died in Ukraine? We will not forgive,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said overnight, accusing Vladimir Putin’s regime of “deliberate murder”.

Keir Starmer vowed to push “further and faster” on sanctions over the weekend. Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday Morning show, the Labour leader called for quicker action against Russian oligarchs and expressed concern over reports that Boris Johnson pushed ahead with the peerage nomination of Evgeny Lebedev, the son of an ex-KGB agent, despite concerns from intelligence officials. “The sanctions have to be the strongest possible,” Starmer said. “They have to not just isolate Russia, they have to make it impossible for Russia to function.”

The government is seeking to address the criticism that it has been too slow to target those associated with the Putin administration by bringing forward its long-promised but much-delayed economic crime bill, which will be rushed through the House of Commons later today. Ministers are facing condemnation as well as amendments to the legislation from Tory backbench colleagues. Meanwhile, France has accused the UK of showing a “lack of humanity” when it comes to accepting Ukrainian refugees. Defending the government this morning, minister James Cleverly told Sky News that “we are going to make sure that we host Ukrainians in the UK” – despite reports that of the 13,500 people who have asked to come to the UK, just 50 have been told they can.

Scottish Labour held its conference over the weekend. Starmer told delegates that the party “can win” and “make change” or it can “pursue apparent political purity inside this party” – but it “cannot do both”. He made a full-throated defence of his approach to internal party rows, warning that “our greatest hurdle might not be the Tories, but ourselves”. In an implicit reference to the 11 Labour MPs who withdrew their signatures from a Stop the War statement on the conflict in Ukraine, Starmer described the party as “apologists for no-one”.