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The UK government has distanced itself from US President Joe Biden’s apparent call for regime change in Moscow when he said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power”.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said any decision to overthrow Mr Putin for his invasion of Ukraine would be “up to the Russian people” after Mr Biden’s apparently unscripted call caused the White House to quickly pull back from the remark.
In a highly charged speech in Warsaw, Mr Biden appealed to Russian people directly with comparisons between the invasion of Ukraine and the horrors of the Second World War.
“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” he said at the close of his speech about the Russian president, who he earlier described as a “butcher”.
As rockets struck the city of Lviv near the Polish border in the west of Ukraine, Mr Biden said: “If you’re able to listen – you, the Russian people, are not our enemy.”
But a White House official swiftly tried to clarify, saying the US president’s point was that the Russian leader “cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbours or the region”.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken insisted “we do not have a strategy of regime change” as the Kremlin said it was “not up to the Americans to decide who will remain in power in Russia”.
French President Emanuel Macron said “he wouldn’t use those terms” voiced by Mr Biden and suggested they could make it harder to resolve the conflict.
"We want to stop the war that Russia launched in Ukraine, without waging war and without escalation,” Mr Macron said.
Richard Haass, a veteran US diplomat who is president of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said Mr Biden’s remarks made “a dangerous situation more dangerous” when the strategy should be focused on de-escalation.
Mr Zahawi said it was “for the Russian people to decide how they are governed” but suggested they “would certainly do well” to have someone who “is democratic and understands their wishes”.
“That’s up to the Russian people and it is only the Russian people that can make that decision,,” he told the BBC on Sunday morning.
"I suspect most of them are pretty fed up with Putin and his cronies and the illegal war."
But Mr Zahawi declined to criticise Mr Biden, unlike Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative MP who chairs the House of Commons defence committee, who said Mr Putin would now “spin this, dig in and fight harder”.
Asked if Mr Biden was wrong to issue the call, Mr Zahawi told Sky News: “No, what I’m saying to you is the White House has been very clear on this.
"The president gave a very powerful speech on this and I think both the United States and the United Kingdom agree that it’s up to the Russian people to decide who should be governing them.”
He backed UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in saying sanctions against oligarchs, banks and businesses could be lifted if Mr Putin ended the war and committed to “no further aggression”.
With the Kremlin’s troops struggling, Ms Truss's comments will be seen as a possible incentive for Mr Putin to cut his losses and broker a deal with Ukraine.
“Those sanctions should only come off with a full ceasefire and withdrawal, but also commitments that there will be no further aggression," she told the Sunday Telegraph.
“And also, there’s the opportunity to have snapback sanctions if there is further aggression in future. That is a real lever that I think can be used.”
Moscow has indicated that it could scale back its offensive to focus on what it claimed was the “main goal, the liberation of Donbas”, the region bordering Russia in the east of Ukraine.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would not give up territory in peace talks as he noted that his troops had delivered “powerful blows” to invading forces.
Mr Zahawi said that the Russian military was having “real problems” as the Ukrainians have “fought like lions”.
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A woman walks past a poster depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin holding his own body, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Sofia, Bulgaria. Reuters -
A man walks past a residential area destroyed by a rocket strike in Kyiv. Getty Images -
Ukraine refugees wait in the train station in Przemysl, near the Polish-Ukrainian border. More than 3.8 million have fled Ukraine since Russia's invasion. AFP -
Ukrainian civilians receive weapons training at a shooting range in Brno, Czech Republic. EPA -
A Ukrainian special police officer patrols near a destroyed building during the night curfew in Kharkiv. AP Photo -
A Ukrainian serviceman walks past the wreck of a Russian tank in Lukyanivka, Kyiv. Reuters -
Ukrainian Air Force jets take part in a defence drill over an unidentified location. Reuters -
Valentina Demura, 70, near the ruins of her home in apartment block in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol. Reuters -
A message of support for Ukraine at the 94th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Reuters -
The widow of sergeant Kostiantyn Deriuhin stands at her husband's grave after his funeral at Lychakiv cemetery in Lviv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A walk amid the ruins after a Russian attack in Byshiv on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
A soldier of the Ukrainian territorial defence forces gives a salute during a break in digging a foxhole at Kalynivka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
A bust adorned with a headband in the colours of the Ukraine flag at a checkpoint in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
The Cheremosh Folk Song and Dance Ensemble performs in the streets of the Old Town in Lviv, Ukraine. Getty -
Eugene Grigorash says goodbye to his wife Victoria Grigorash and their seven-month-old son Roman as their bus leaves Lviv on its way to Poland. Getty -
People head for an air raid shelter after sirens sound across Lviv in Ukraine. Getty -
A pro-Ukraine rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. EPA -
The aftermath of an air strike on the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. AFP -
A protester weeps as she takes part in a 'mothers' march' for Ukraine, in New York. AFP -
Local people share a basement of a historical building which is being used as a bomb shelter during an air raid warning in Lviv. EPA -
US President Joe Biden kisses a child while meeting refugees of Russia's war with Ukraine at PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw, Poland. AFP -
A Ukrainian soldier stands guard at Independence Square in Kyiv. AFP -
Municipal employees cover the city's monuments with sand bags to protect them from strikes in Kharkiv. AFP -
Misha, 5, who lost his mother some weeks ago and got injured during a Russian strike, is helped by his grandfather to dress up in the basement of a hospital in Mykolaiv. AFP -
Ukrainian refugees rest in the ticket hall of Przemysl Glowny train station. Reuters -
A woman walks past destroyed houses in the village of Krasylivka outside Kyiv. Reuters -
A man climbs up a ladder to examine his destroyed house in the village of Krasylivka outside Kyiv. Reuters -
Damage inside an Orthodox Church building in Yasnohorodka, on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP -
A Ukrainian soldier at a psychiatric hospital damaged by a Russian bombing, in Mykolaiv. AP -
Displaced people from Dnipro arrive in Lviv, in western Ukraine. Millions are internally displaced. Getty Images -
A destroyed school in Kharkiv. AFP -
A Ukrainian fighter on the front line in the north Kyiv region. Reuters -
A resident walks past blazing buildings and vehicles after a Russian artillery strike in Kharkiv. AFP -
Black smoke billows from a fuel depot near Kyiv that was used by the Ukrainian Army before it was hit by during a Russian strike. AP -
Masha, 26, checks her mobile phone at an air raid shelter inside a Kyiv metro station. Reuters -
A market on fire in Kharkiv after a Russian attack. AP -
People try to recover items from a shop set on fire during a Russian attack in Kharkiv. AP -
Nastya Kuzyk, 20, who was injured in an attack on Chernihiv, is comforted by her mother Svitlana, 50, as she recovers in a Kyiv hospital. AP
The latest intelligence update from the Ministry of Defence said that the Kremlin’s forces “appear to be concentrating their effort to attempt the encirclement of Ukrainian forces” in the east of the country.
“The battlefield across northern Ukraine remains largely static with local Ukrainian counter-attacks hampering Russian attempts to reorganise their forces,” the ministry said.
Mr Zelenskyy renewed his plea for western allies to provide tanks and fighter jets to repel the Russians, as he praised the courage of his troops defending the besieged city of Mariupol.
“If only those who have been thinking for 31 days on how to hand over dozens of jets and tanks had 1 per cent of their courage,” he said.
