Live updates: follow the latest news on Russia-Ukraine
The UK has imposed sanctions on Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who has had ties to Arsenal and Everton football clubs, to pile pressure on Vladimir Putin over his “barbarous” attacks on Ukraine.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also announced a travel ban and a full asset freeze against former Russian deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov on Thursday evening, taking the number of oligarchs penalised to 15.
But Roman Abramovich, who says he will sell Chelsea FC and give the proceeds to victims of the Ukraine war, is not expected to be a target of the latest sanctions after it was conceded it could take “weeks and months” to build legally sound cases.
But Ms Truss will establish an oligarch taskforce of ministers and officials from departments including the Home Office, the Treasury and the National Crime Agency to co-ordinate sanctions and build cases.
A government source told PA that it could take some time to build a legally watertight case against some Russian oligarchs.
“We’re working round the clock and going as quick as we can,” the source said.
Ms Truss is understood to have tripled the size of the sanctions team in recent months.
Mr Usmanov, whose commercial ties with Everton have been suspended, has already had his assets frozen as part of measures introduced by the EU.
On Wednesday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer asked why Mr Shuvalov, who served under Mr Putin as his deputy prime minister, had not had sanctions imposed.
Mr Shuvalov owns property in Westminster and is the chair of the management board of VEB, one of the sanctioned Russian banks.
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Damage after the shelling of buildings in central Kharkiv, Ukraine. EPA -
Workers from a local construction company weld anti-tank obstacles to be placed on roads around Kyiv as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues. Reuters -
Anti-war protesters attach sunflowers to barriers in front of the Russian embassy. Reuters -
Ukrainian volunteers prepare food for displaced people outside Lviv railway station in western Ukraine. AP -
A Ukrainian soldier holds an anti-tank launcher north-east of Kyiv. AFP -
Ukrainian refugees rest at Warsaw East train station in Poland. EPA -
Children look out from a carriage window as a train prepares to depart from a station in Lviv to the town of Uzhhorod near the border with Slovakia. AFP -
A girl who fled Ukraine is reunited with her father in Medyka, south-eastern Poland. AP Photo -
Tears outside a house damaged by a Russian airstrike in Gorenka, on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP Photo -
A civil defence member is poised to shoot as a vehicle approaches a checkpoint in Gorenka. AP Photo -
A Ukrainian civil defence member in the garden of a house damaged by a Russian airstrike. AP Photo -
Members of the US Army 3rd Infantry Division board a plane bound for Germany in Savannah, Georgia. EPA -
Prayers for peace in Ukraine at the Vatican's Saint Peter's Square. AFP -
A woman (right) hugs an arriving passenger from a train carrying refugees at Berlin's central station. EPA -
Firefighters battle a blaze in a Kharkiv police building hit by shelling. AFP -
A Ukrainian woman makes a phone call after crossing the Slovakian border. AFP -
A doctor takes shelter in the basement of a Kyiv perinatal centre. Reuters -
Debris which locals say was caused by shelling in separatist-controlled Horlivka, Donetsk. Reuters -
MPs in London give a standing ovation to Ukraine ambassador Vadym Prystaiko, who was in the public gallery. AP -
Distraught women and children fleeing Ukraine wait to enter Poland at the Korczowa crossing. Getty -
Newborn Ivan lies next to his mother as they shelter in the basement of a Kyiv perinatal centre. Reuters -
Firefighters hand water to people in a Ukrainian train full of refugees in Przemysl, Poland. Reuters -
Ukrainian refugees queue to file for residency permits at Prague's police headquarters. AFP -
Firefighters work to contain a blaze in buildings housing the Kharkiv regional police department. AFP -
A woman and her children sit in a tent in the Kyiv subway, using it as a bomb shelter. AP -
Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze at the Kharkiv National University building, which city officials said was damaged by Russian shelling. Reuters -
An elderly woman comforts a child as they take shelter inside an underground station in Kyiv. Reuters -
People queue at a pharmacy in central Kyiv. Reuters -
A woman is consoled by a volunteer after fleeing from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at the border crossing in Siret, Romania. Reuters -
A Ukrainian civilian in the city of Zhytomyr practises throwing petrol bombs. Reuters -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy poses after an interview with Reuters in Kyiv. Reuters -
A blast is seen at Kyiv's TV tower. Reuters -
A girl in Siret, Romania, covers herself with a blanket after fleeing from Ukraine. Reuters -
Ukraine's ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, acknowledges applause from US first lady Jill Biden as they attend President Joe Biden's first State of the Union address in Washington. AFP -
A man walks past the remains of Russian military vehicles in Bucha, close to Kyiv. AFP -
Civilians cross a river on a blown-up bridge on Kyiv's northern front. Defending the capital is a 'key priority', Ukraine's president has said. AFP -
Russian aircraft on the ground at Luninets Airbase, Belarus, about 50 kilometres north of the Ukrainian border. AFP -
People look at the gutted remains of Russian military vehicles on a road in the town of Bucha. AP -
A woman with a child who fled from the war in Ukraine reunite with their family after crossing the border in Medyka, Poland. AP -
Animal keeper Kirilo Trantin comforts an elephant at Kyiv Zoo. AP -
An armed man stands by the remains of a Russian military vehicle in Bucha. AP -
Ukrainian families say goodbye as they prepare to board a bus to Poland at Lviv, western Ukraine. AP -
Paramedics move a man who was wounded by shelling in a residential area of Mariupol, south-eastern Ukraine. AP -
Rescuers work at the site of a Russian strike in Zhytomyr. Reuters -
US actor and director Sean Penn attends a press briefing at the Presidential Office in Kyiv. Reuters -
Demonstrators participate in a protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at Lafayette Square in Washington. AFP -
Ukrainian soldiers rest while others eat near the front line with Russian troops in northern Kyiv. AP -
A barricade made of trams, buses and sand bags is seen through the window of car in the northern part of Kyiv. AP -
Members of the European Parliament applaud after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's speech at a special session to debate its response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Reuters -
Ambassadors and diplomats walk out as Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (on screen) speaks during a recorded message at the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. EPA
“Our message to Putin and his allies has been clear from day one – invading Ukraine would have serious and crippling economic consequences," Ms Truss said.
“Sanctioning Usmanov and Shuvalov sends a clear message that we will hit oligarchs and individuals closely associated with the Putin regime and his barbarous war.
"We won’t stop here. Our aim is to cripple the Russian economy and starve Putin’s war machine.”
Both men are part of Mr Putin’s inner circle, said the Foreign Office, which acted in co-ordination with the US.
Mr Usmanov is said to have had significant interests in Arsenal and Everton, and owns the £48 million ($64m) Beechwood House in London’s Highgate and the 16th century Sutton Place estate in Surrey.
Mr Shuvalov was said to have led Russia’s bid for the 2018 Fifa football World Cup.
Earlier on Thursday, senior Conservative MPs called for the immediate seizure of oligarchs’ assets in the UK, such as luxury yachts and property, to return them to the Russian people “as soon as possible”.
Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the House of Commons foreign affairs committee, called for the government to go further, by following European allies moves to seize oligarchs’ assets.
“We should be looking immediately to seize those assets linked to those who are profiting from Putin’s war machine, holding it in trust and returning it to the Russian people as soon as possible,” Mr Tugendhat said.
Senior Tory MP Tobias Ellwood echoed the call, saying there would be “increasing public anger that we’re not doing enough to help our fellow Ukrainians in their hour of need”.
“There’s a race to squeeze Putin given the war crimes he’s now committing in Ukraine, and London continues to be seen as ground zero as to where oligarchs’ investments sit," said Mr Ellwood, chairman of the Commons defence committee.
"So we need to be impounding these assets in days, not weeks or months. Every day we wait offers more time for the oligarchs to move their wealth to other parts of the world.
"Don’t forget it’s not their wealth, this is the stolen wealth from the Russian people which is utilised to keep Putin in power.”
French authorities say they seized a yacht linked to Igor Sechin, an ally of Mr Putin, who runs oil giant Rosneft. It was also reported Germany had seized another superyacht.
It was understood that UK officials had been told to look for legal routes to seize the luxury British properties of oligarchs with ties to Mr Putin without paying compensation.
“It is time to shut down the racket of illicit money in British property,” a government source said.
Mr Abramovich, the Russian-Israeli billionaire who has owned Chelsea since 2003, announced he would sell the club, with the “net proceeds” going to a charity he would set up to “benefit all victims of the war in Ukraine”.
His comments, which avoided any criticism of Mr Putin, came after politicians including Mr Starmer called for him to face sanctions.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said a second round of talks was unable to broker peace but he did offer hopes of “humanitarian corridors” to allow civilians to flee areas of fighting, a suggestion echoed by Mr Putin.
The port city of Kherson became the first major city to fall since the invasion began a week ago, with Russian military claiming to have seized control and Ukrainian officials saying forces had taken over local government headquarters.
The Kremlin was pressing its offensive on several fronts, but a long column of tanks has apparently been stalled outside the capital Kyiv for days.
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said in Estonia that a “line has clearly been crossed” by Moscow regarding thermobaric “vacuum bombs”, which could indiscriminately kill civilians if used in Ukrainian cities.
It was understood Mr Wallace was not suggesting that vacuum bombs, which suck in oxygen to create a devastating, high-temperature blast, have been used in Ukraine.
The International Criminal Court opened a war crimes investigation on Wednesday night after Britain and 37 allies referred Moscow over what Prime Minister Boris Johnson called “abhorrent” attacks.
Ukraine has said that more than 2,000 civilians have died during the assault, as a humanitarian crisis unfurled in Europe.
The UN has said that more than one million people have now fled to seek sanctuary from the Russian attacks.
